Manic Minish
by StarLion
Summary: Continuing the tales of various Sonic characters going off to be Heroes in Hyrule, Manic now takes his turn to tell his story of how he came to possess the mighty Four Sword and vanquish the Wind Mage Vaati.
1. Gathering of the Heroes

**A/N: **Well, here we are, the fourth installment in my series of Sonic/Zelda crossovers, following our irrepressible thief and mischievous younger brother to Sonic, none other than Manic himself, as he eventually gets around to the events of Minish Cap. I was going to try to wait a while before I gave this to you, to at least try to give myself a break if nothing else - but inspiration happened and I had to write it while I had it.

Since Manic, unlike the other Heroes so far, is from the Animeverse rather than the games I'm more familiar with, I don't have quite so much to work with as usual. Reading up about him has provided me a start, and I've picked up ideas that work well with him from various places, but there'll be differences. Hopefully it won't detract from the story too much.

For those of you who for whatever reason chose not to read Silver Demons and thus missed out on a few events, all you really missed is Manic's arrival and his suggestion to Silver that he take Sonic to the world of Wind Waker Hyrule - and Sonic's tale there has yet to be told.

Like usual, I don't own any of the Sonic or Zelda stuff - just the odd non-canonical tidbits here and there which help improve the story experience.

And now, let's dive into the latest epic tale. As always, enjoy!

* * *

Rusl set down the drinks on the table, carefully avoiding letting any of them catch Shad's latest literary work, a work Auru was proof-reading for him along with critical remarks. He'd heard the Princess Zelda had commissioned Shad to work on something, but what it was had until now escaped him.

Auru glanced up as Rusl took his seat, making another mark on the current sheet of the project, then finally spoke in his quiet voice.

"He's writing about Heroes," he told Rusl. "And I've been drafted in to make it worthy of the Princess's own library."

"Just a shame she asked me after Tails left," Shad murmured, not looking up as he absently reached for the drink. "There's a lot of his story we still don't know. Ashei's been trying to help, but we have no idea what happened in the Temples."

"Not to mention this Silver he's written about," Auru noted. "He's the Hero directly before our Tails, and there's quite a bit about him. A lot of it is distorted by time, though."

"Happened across a few people back in Ordon before I came here," Rusl said conversationally. "They were a little bogged down by the children, but I gather they're not far behind me. I think they might be able to help you out a little."

"I hope _someone_ can, or we won't have an accurate idea of any Hero," Shad replied. "I'd like to have Tails himself, but-"

"Telma!" a voice exclaimed from the bar. "You're as bad as Bo! At this rate I'm going to end up with a cracked rib every time I visit!"

Auru chuckled to himself as Shad looked up sharply, then over to the bar where the familiar twin-tailed fox was squeezing out of Telma's massive hug. Not far away from him were a collection of the other strange creatures from Tails' land, some known, some not, and all bearing some variation of the Hero's green.

Rusl knew them all from their arrival in Ordon, and some from before. Sonic and Knuckles had both accompanied Tails, but it appeared both of them had since become Heroes. Two green hedgehogs also bore green, and both had a resemblance to Sonic, but they were different – one seemed to be stuck perpetually scowling and wore a black jacket, while the other looked impudently mischievous. Leaning on the wall beyond them while Tails introduced them all was another hedgehog who had the same colouration as his name, Silver, suggested.

"You're not serious?" Telma asked. "All of them?"

"Well, all except Scourge there," Sonic replied. "He made a pest of himself while Silver was playing Hero. He's not actually a Hero though."

"Just as well too," Scourge said. "I don't have it in me to be a goody two-shoes like you lot."

"Watch it!" the younger green hedgehog, introduced as Manic, warned him. His hand went to the handle of his own sword, and Scourge shrank back.

"Make him stop that, Sonic," Scourge complained.

"What makes you think he's going to listen to me?" Sonic replied.

Silver had been watching with amusement, but caught Rusl's eye and sighed, rolling his eyes skyward and shaking his head. "If you children have finished playing," he said. "Maybe we should pay a visit to Tails' friends over there? They seem to recognise you," he added to Tails.

"Rusl, Shad, Auru and... no Ashei?" Tails asked as he introduced them to the Heroes.

"She's got a job whipping the palace guard into shape," Rusl told him. "And going and doing research when she gets annoyed with her recruits."

"Research? For what?"

"Into you, little friend," Shad told him. "The Princess asked me to write a report on Heroes, and as much as we know about you, we're still missing a lot. Not to mention your friends too..." he went on, looking thoughtful.

"Wait for it," Rusl murmured to Auru.

"I don't suppose you'd all care to help me make this report as accurate as it can be?" Shad asked hopefully.

"There it is," Auru laughed. "He was bound to say it. Might I make a suggestion? We have a lot of Tails' and Silver's down, so why don't we ask them to look over theirs, while we listen to another of them?"

"That works well for us, doesn't it?" Manic observed. "We've all heard their stories already, and we already agreed it was my turn. Know which Hero I am yet?"

"Ah..." Shad said hesitantly, then dug into the stack of parchment sheets, scanning through them quickly.

"Other stack," Auru told him. "Second chapter."

Shad mumbled thanks, tidying the stack and moving to another one, picking out one sheet.

"Ah. Here it is. You're the one who came just before Silver, though we don't have enough information to tell exactly how far before. King Daltus asked you to save his daughter, an earlier Princess Zelda, who had been turned to stone, and you set out in search of the mysterious Minish." He scanned ahead some more and went on, "We've got a few details here and there, but not enough to warrant an entire section to yourself. Of course, you could help change that," he added.

Silver absently waved one hand to bring several chairs floating through the air, to the surprise of Telma and them all. Silver winked at her, but said nothing.

Once they'd all seated themselves, Silver and Tails already reading through Shad's chronicle of their own stories – Silver already making notes on a separate sheet – Manic looked around, then apparently satisfied said, "Alright, lets get this started. One epic tale of Heroics and some not so Heroic stuff, a tale of annoying a lot of people along the way including the so-called Master Wind Mage Vaati, who hates me completely for what I did to him." He was smirking openly by the time he finished.

Shad quickly uncorked a fresh pot of ink and dipped a quill into it, poised to start taking down Manic's words.

"Oh, before I begin," Manic said, apparently recalling something. "Hey, Silver. You know you and Knuckles were wondering about Link? Listen up, 'cause I got the answer for you."

* * *

Looks like it's my turn, eh? I make no excuses or attempt to conceal what I am – among other things, a liar, braggart and a thief. Best to get that out in the open right off. I can steal almost anything, pick any lock, and lie myself into and out of any kind of trouble you care to name.

My long standing past-time means I move about a great deal, since you can't really stay in one place for too long before _someone_ starts to suspect you, and I've got a knack for telling when that time is.

So, while I never actually intended to go to Hyrule, I nevertheless did. I was guided there though. On one of my travels between two of the more familiar towns I frequent I came across an ornate temple by the roadside that I swear hadn't been there before – but that didn't mean someone hadn't learned how to create things quickly, and it also didn't mean it wasn't fair game to see what it had available for an enterprising young thief.

The entire thing was sheathed inside and out with marble, which looks pretty but is kinda hard to steal. Designs and murals decorated the walls, depicting the adventure of a suspiciously familiar red figure in green, fighting all manner of stylized monsters in similarly stylized scenes.

There were no side routes or chambers in the temple, which was curious because normally there's always at least somewhere for stuff to be hidden. The only place to hide here was behind the altar, and that was out of the question because of the tall human youth leaning on it – also wearing green, and making the idea of stealing the golden altar ornaments unworkable.

"You wouldn't be able to take them past the door anyway," he told me without any preamble, not even looking up. He brushed aside a lock of blonde hair that had been covering his eyes, and looked me over. "Mind you, seeing your nature, I wouldn't be surprised to find you'd try anyway. Think you'd be up for helping me out a bit?"

"What, you think I'm some kinda mercenary?" I replied. "I don't work for money, I work for me and steal the money."

"Yes, I know," the youth chuckled. "You'll have plenty of chances to exercise that. But I've noticed you've become fairly familiar in this region, and there's a few people who'll notice you, and the place I need you has no idea who you are, Manic."

A temple that wasn't there before in the middle of nowhere and a youth who knows me that I know I've never met? Definitely suspicious.

"I _know_ I've never stolen from you," I told him, clearly showing how suspicious I was treating this. "And I don't even know who you are. But you definitely know me."

"You can call me Link," he replied calmly. "And if you want to get right down to the truth of the matter, I'm a god. A rather reluctant one, I'll admit, but the others didn't really leave me any choice. I watch over the land of Hyrule, and ensure that whenever the need arises, there is someone there waiting in the wings, who'll become the Hero of that generation."

"And you got me."

"No, Manic. I picked you. I always choose my Heroes. Just most of the time I never make it known. I doubt there's any other way I could convince you to go along with this though, so I put in a personal appearance."

His offer was only marginally less suspicious – anyone who claims they're a god needs their head looked at, after all – but it was interesting all the same. He had it right, I was getting a little bit too well-known, and ideally I needed a new market to break into, so to speak.

So I gave him the first question any good thief should ask. "What's in it for me?"

"Knowing you, anything you come across that catches your interest. Try not to lose sight of the main goal though, Manic. You'll meet someone along the way who'll help you with that, though I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell him about me. I don't really need followers at all, and most people mistake me for some God of Heroes or something. I'm just Hyrule's guardian deity. Anyway. Will you do this?"

"Do what? All you've told me is that you need a Hero, and you've picked me."

"I can't tell you too much in advance, Manic," Link said in a pained tone. "If I do that you'll change how things are supposed to happen. I'll nudge events in the right direction if I have to, but ideally you're supposed to use your own initiative."

"Won't work," I insisted. "Gotta give me something to work with. You don't give me something, I'll go do my own thing."

"Manic!" he protested. "You can't seriously be trying to bargain with me, are you?"  
"Why not? You want me to do this, you haven't offered me anything I'm not already gonna get. You gotta do something to persuade me, else I'm just gonna ignore you."

Link stared at me and sighed. "Why do I always pick the difficult ones? Alright Manic, I'll tell you the start of it. A respected Minish sorcerer created a cap that would bestow immediate magical power upon whoever wore it, intending it to be given to the local Hylians – or humans, to you – as a gift. His apprentice Vaati stole it instead, and will soon enter into a tournament at Hyrule Castle in an attempt to secure the divine light power the Goddess Hylia bestowed a very long time ago. He's looking in completely the wrong place, but he'll persevere and soon enough he'll find the right place."

"You just want me to stop him?" I asked. Link nodded. "So, what's to stop me just nicking this hat off him and running off?"

"For one thing, Vaati would never let you get that close, and for another he's used its own magic to prevent it working for anyone else," Link replied. "Besides, the other gods would be yelling at me for years if I let that happen," he added wryly. "They don't like it when I make things too easy. I hope you don't want too much more, Manic, because if I give you more-"

"I'll make things happen different," I finished. "Lets say I'll go along with you – for now. If I change my mind, I'll be back here."

"You can't do that. This place only exists when and where I need it to be. If you're going to do this, the moment you leave you'll be in Hyrule, and my temple won't reappear until after you're done – unless you want to find your own way."

"Well, listen out then Link, 'cause if I change my mind, you'll have to come set up shop and start convincing me all over again then," I told him.

"Do you have any idea how many rules I'd break doing that? Even gods have their rules you know."

"Rules are there to be broken," I told him airily. "I should know, I do it all the time."

"I give up," Link laughed. "Alright you little thief, if that's what it takes to make you do some good for me, I'll listen out in case you ever change your mind along the way. Now why don't you run along and see how long you can go without stealing something?"

I smirked at him and held out a handful of rupees – though back then, I thought they were just gemstones. "Way ahead of you, Link," I told him.

Link stared at me in consternation, then reached for the small leather pouch that had been hanging off his belt – and had a neat little slit in the bottom.

"Only you," he sighed. "Go on, take them. You'll need some currency," he told me, then briefly explained the rupee system Hyrule used. In the handful I'd just stolen from him I had quite a large fund already, but then if I had that, it'd take all the fun out of stealing more, so I handed it back to him.

"I'll get my own," I told him. "Don't expect me to give anything else back though."

"No, I don't expect you would," he sighed again. "Before you go though, one other thing – something I give all my Heroes at some point." He reached out and touched my shoulder, focusing briefly, then the green clothes everyone sees me wearing now, my own Hero's outfit – except for the cap, which I'll get to later – replaced what I'd been wearing. "Now go on – and _try_ not to steal everything, will you?"

"Don't be silly, that's what I always do!"

"I know," he grimaced. "Believe me, I know."


	2. Meet Vaati

**A/N:** Because I just couldn't resist writing a bit more - with one little tweak to handle something I overlooked, and have now sorted.

The start up and introduction to Vaati is slightly different here, but I think it'll work out much better this way.

* * *

Hyrule as I knew it was a much more wild place than the one of today. What Tails and Silver know as the vast emptiness of Hyrule field was mostly forested, and over to the south-west, also wet and marshy where Castor Wilds are. I imagine sometime between my visit and theirs the people managed to civilize it a bit, but personally I preferred the more wild Hyrule. There were more places to hide.

Link's Temple deposited me not far from the immense stone walls of Hyrule Castle Town, the front of it temporarily replacing the walls and as soon as I'd descended the steps to the worn dirt path in front, it vanished and turned back into the wall again.

From the far side of the walls I could already hear the hustle and bustle of a busy town, along with the kind of music that's usually as bad as the garish buntings and decorations that any carnival turns up. I could already think of the possibilities, and I hadn't even seen inside yet.

The trail I was on gave me enough to tell which way to go to find the nearest gate, at which there were two mail-shirted guards with long pikes, watching me approach with the kind of absolutely blank, straight look that can only be perfected by having to stand in once place for most of their lives. They had plenty of time to see what they were letting into the town, and evidently decided I was no threat, not even bothering to say anything as I made my way in.

Within minutes of finding my way to the nearest crowd I was off to a brilliant start. Among the many things I keep in my fanny-pack – which, I noticed with some interest, had _not_ been replaced with the new clothes – was the short knife I always keep around. It neatly opened a few more money pouches and given me something to get started with, and I overheard enough talk to know this carnival was an annual thing done in celebration of the Minish that Link had mentioned. They were supposed to be tiny little creatures who lived alongside the locals, but if they were I didn't see any of them – yet.

Up at the central marketplace I continued to wreak my own specialized brand of havoc, watching people's attention, taking what they couldn't protect or see and causing a little trouble along the way. A heated argument over the freshness of fruit at one stall provided me the cover to pick up an apple in passing, a well-placed nudge coinciding with a fist thumping on the stall and between the two causing it to collapse and spill fruit everywhere. Several people quickly took advantage of the suddenly liberated fruit before the market guards moved in to restore order, by which time I'd already melted into the surrounding crowd.

Several people 'accidentally' fell into an ornamental pond, all of which were helped back out again by me, so distracted by their terrible clumsiness and profuse thanks that they completely missed my hands moving very quickly, divesting them of various belongings – a pendant with a rather inferior ruby set into it, a map of the town, a pamphlet that told me what was going on where and a ring. I'd have stayed to collect more, but as I concealed myself to wait for the chance to cause another accident, one of the previous victims noticed their loss and went running for a guard, marking the time where I made myself scarce in that part of town.

The pamphlet and map were both written in Hylian, a language I didn't understand. A thief has to be nimble and quick however, and I had an easy way around this. I wandered the town, listening to the talk and identifying places by what people said – then finding the signs on them and working things out from there. Hylian uses the same number of letters in their alphabet as we do, they just use different symbols. Within a few minutes I could read enough of them to make sense of the map, and with that I was able to expand my knowledge further and read through the pamphlet. It was filled with the kind of happy exhortations you'd expect, flamboyantly declaring all the events and such going on – most of which of no real interest to me except for the opportunities.

I figured that even though the local guard would expect to see a slight rise in crime – any guard that doesn't needs to be fired and replaced – I'd be able to conceal my activities thus far under that, but they would be as watchful as they could and as a newcomer to the town and a nonhuman besides I'd naturally be held under suspicion. So since I had sort of agreed to help Link out, I quit the town for now and joined the crowds heading northwards along a well-guarded route to the castle itself.

More guards waited at the entrance, checking everyone who came through before they were allowed to become spectators at the swordsman's tourney, but my diminutive stature meant it was a simple matter to squeeze behind them while they were distracted by others. Why bother them if I didn't have to?

The tourney itself appeared to be well underway, and I didn't really have any interest in it except to identify Vaati – a tall, pale Hylian wearing flowing indigo robes, held at the waist by a golden belt inlaid with a ruby, matched by a similar circlet keeping his hair out of his face, and he also had red and white plates on his boots to protect his feet.

Again listening in on the conversation, I quickly discovered that he had so far completely outclassed everyone so far, and as I watched him almost casually dispatch someone who had apparently been the tourney champion a few years before, I could see why. His expression seemed bored but alert, and no matter what his opponent raised against him, he seemed to brush it aside almost negligently.

More talk told me that when he defeated his final opponent, last year's champion, he'd be allowed to approach a sacred chest that was said by many to contain the secret hidden power of the Royal Family – the Light power Link had told me about, evidently. It was also said that only one pure of heart could touch the chest, because the legendary Picori Blade was embedded in the chest's lid and protected it by means of enchantments.

I made sure I had a prime position to observe, watching Vaati check over his sword while he waited for his last opponent. At one point he frowned and looked my way, the two of us exchanging a long, steady look. Maybe he sensed that I was Link's Chosen this time, or maybe it was something else, but before he looked away I saw the first sign of any other emotion when he gave me a cruel looking smile.

In a matter of minutes the previous champion took up arms against him, a mighty warrior who actually looked the part. Vaati gave him a critical look, then as soon as the announcer had given them the order to start, Vaati practically flew toward him, his blade whistling as it sliced through the air. He seemed to find the weakest points in the armour easily, and try as the warrior might, he could never land a blow on the agile Minish sorcerer, always dancing clear of his blade before it closed in.

Vaati deftly cut the straps holding his armour on, causing the warrior's armour to clatter to the floor, then held his blade against the startled warrior's throat, giving him no choice but to concede defeat. I got the distinct impression even from my relatively distant viewpoint that Vaati had to force himself to stop there. He didn't appear to be the kind of person who'd get all queasy about killing a few people to get what he wanted.

The victor's ceremony begun not long afterwards, Princess Zelda and King Daltus standing regally at the entrance to the inside of the castle as four guards brought a heavy red chest inlaid with golden designs and with the Picori Blade rising from the lid. They set it down, then stepped away as the King permitted Vaati the right to approach.

Vaati did not walk. He made a slight gesture with one hand and vanished into a fine mist that reformed back into him right before the chest. At a second gesture the sword broke, and a third caused the chest to open itself – causing a vast cloud to spray upward and outwards, filled with all kinds of non-human monsters.

The guards started to approach him immediately, but Vaati gestured again and a sudden gale of wind blew them away. I concealed myself quickly, grabbing hold of a sturdy sapling as Vaati continued by blowing away the crowds as well.

Something was said, but the now dying winds muffled it. When I chanced to look, I saw the princess had become a stone statue, and Vaati was staring directly at me. He vanished again, the mist forming him right in front of me.

"You're a brave boy, aren't you?" he murmured, sounding interested. "But then I imagine that's why Link chose you, isn't it? Try to stop me – if you can."

"Is that a challenge?" I asked him, starting to grin. "If it is, I'll take you up on it. Care to make a bet on the outcome?"

Vaati actually laughed, though I noticed he watched me carefully and had prudently kept just far enough away from me to stop me stealing anything. He didn't say anything more though, vanishing again with the mist this time soaring away.


	3. On an Adventure

The castle was in disarray with a fair part of the guards and all the spectators, except for me of course, blown away. The palace's own guard had fared slightly better than the town guards, quickly and efficiently ensuring the safety of the palace and it's immediate surrounds.

Times of turmoil like that are viewed differently by different thieves. Some say it's a bad thing because such times make people more paranoid and protective of their belongings, others say it's a good thing because people are so distracted by it, they don't pay proper attention. I'm somewhere in-between, I like to see which way the winds are blowing and make up my own mind.

This was one of the times where it wasn't such a good thing. Vaati had made his intentions clear, and given how easily he could come and go, the guards were all on edge, knowing he could potentially show up anywhere at any time.

Naturally, since I had been the only one besides King Daltus and the aged looked Minister Potho, chief advisor to the crown, they wanted to talk to me, and as a nonhuman I got treated – understandably – with some suspicion. I had to watch what I said very carefully to avoid implicating myself in anything that had happened in the town, but I'm good at that and before long they conferred amongst themselves, then had me wait in a chamber just off the throne room of the castle itself.

Eavesdropping is a terrible habit to get into, but it _does_ pay off. I listened at the door to the babble of the guards, picking up all kinds of little nuggets. The contents of the chest for example were monsters that had been sealed away by the Picori Blade, a blade that had been given to the people of Hyrule by the Picori – the true name of the Minish. It had been a brave Minish in green that had sealed away the monsters for the benefit of the Hylians, or so the legends told.

I also learned that in breaking the seal and opening the chest, said monsters were now scattered throughout Hyrule, and would pose a significant threat to the castle and town. The Palace guards didn't seem too concerned about this, but the few Town guards I heard present seemed rather concerned – perhaps because it meant they'd actually have to work for a living – something as immoral in their book as it was in mine.

Lastly, one interesting conversation said that Princess Zelda had been protected from Vaati's magic by a strange and very bright pulsating light before she'd been turned to stone. I made an immediate connection that I quickly realized Vaati hadn't – _she_ was the one who concealed the Light power he was after!

I left them to their babbling while I waited and tried to think. My discussion with Link made it abundantly clear that I was going to be, if not already, a Hero, and I knew that meant I'd likely be having to fight off a lot of the monsters Vaati had released. The problem was, I was unarmed – my little knife is good in a pinch, but it's not designed for actual fighting. During my escort here I'd seen a number of ornamental weapons hanging on the walls, but ornamental ones are usually just that – and not really meant for a fight. I was going to have to find a weapon somewhere.

Before I came to any conclusions, there was a rap on the door and Minister Potho, with a someone who _appeared_ to be a Palace guard, entered. The guard, who had a very familiar face, brushed his blonde hair back out from his face and winked at me.

"The King has asked for your presence, young ah..." Potho faltered.

"Manic," I supplied. "The hedgehog."

"I beg your pardon?"

"It's what I am," I explained. "Easier to get it said right away, saves you asking later."

Potho blinked. "Yes," he said slowly. "Please accompany me."

The guard stood aside to let Potho leave, then leaned down to me and whispered, "Don't worry about a weapon. I've taken care of it."

Back in the throne room, the throne was occupied by the somewhat rotund King Daltus, who despite his girth seemed to be swallowed up in his red ermine robes. Potho took his place on one side of the throne, while Link, still pretending to be a guard, took up position on the other side. Lined up and stood at attention on either side of the broad red carpet were six guards, three aside – on one side the Town guards, the other the Palace ones. At the end of one row was a bearded man in green not too different from my own though with a burn-spotted leather apron over it that identified him as a smith, while I was directed to a place at the end of the other.

Potho murmured to the King briefly, gesturing once to me, then the King nodded and with some effort stood, though he remained leaning against his throne.

"I will not waste time or words here," he told us in his deep voice. "It is as you have all heard. Vaati has cursed my fair daughter and caused her to become as stone. The sacred Picori Blade lays shattered, and in its broken state it is not capable of breaking the curse as it could otherwise do. But we should not give up hope. Tell me all, what is known of the Picori?"

There seemed to be a moment of puzzlement among the guards before Link gave me a pointed look. I stepped forward, pausing as Potho announced, "Manic, the Hedgehog."

"I've heard a few things about them, King," I said. I got a few looks for that, but I don't like formality. "They're a tiny people who sealed away the monsters of Hyrule to ensure the well-being of your people, and use the Picori Blade to do so."

"Them?" the smith said sceptically. "Those thumb-sized imps from fairy tales? Aren't they just myths."

"No, master smith," the King said. "They do indeed exist, and young Manic has neatly summarized how we came to know them. The royal family have, since our earliest encounters, been the only ones to know the truth of this matter. They exist, and they are the ones who forged the Picori Blade. They can be found anywhere, but the place we are guaranteed to find them is the south-eastern forest, the Minish Woods. If they cannot help us reforge the blade, they will know to whom we should turn."

"Then we must dispatch soldiers at once, my King," Potho exclaimed. "We cannot waste any time."

But Daltus shook his head, "No, soldiers will not do. Even were they able to see the Picori, they would feel threatened."

"What do you mean, 'if they were able to see them', your Majesty?" the smith asked.

"If I may, my King," Link murmured, then after a brief nod stepped forward. "The Picori cannot be seen by an adult, master smith, only be children – such as Manic. I think if we were to ask him, we would find him willing to visit their woods and speak with them on our behalf, and if they should tell him there is more to it than simple reforging it, perhaps he would be willing to go on such an adventure."

I gave Link a briefly frosty look at his manipulating me this way.

"I'd be happy to do this for you, King," I said, concealing my real feelings about this. "But with the monsters now infesting much of Hyrule, it wouldn't be a good idea for me to go out unarmed. I'll leave as soon as I've been given a weapon to defend myself with."

Link's smile didn't fade, though his eyes went momentarily distant.

"My King," the smith said then. "Vaati did not claim the sword I forged for the victor of the tournament, perhaps because he was so interested in the chest. It is a serviceable blade, and has it's own scabbard. I'd only have to adjust the strap on it so he can carry it better, and we could allow Manic to take it instead."

"Then let it be so," Daltus decided after only a moment's thought. "We are counting on you, Manic. We will begin the search for Vaati and ensure the safety of the town and castle. Should you need anything, let it be known and we will see what may be done."

I almost said something then, but Link spoke first, "With your Majesty's permission, I'd like to take our young Hero aside to make sure he knows how to wield a sword effectively."

_That_ went too far. "You think I don't know what I'm doing?" I accused. "That I've never held a weapon before? I can manage, I assure you – and as the King said, _if_ I think I need help, _then_ I'll come to you."

Link looked amused, and replied, "Once you're armed then, I'll see you safely out of the castle – to make sure you don't get lost along the way. You can just come back and ask if you change your mind."

He might have been a self-admitted god, but if it hadn't been for the presence of the guards and King, I'd have given him such a thump for that. I could swear he was actually enjoying himself.

We went into a different ante-chamber so the smith could adjust the scabbard for me, along with a small shield Link insisted I take. The smith had a little trouble with it so he could be sure when I drew it, I wouldn't catch myself either. The straps holding it on my back had been made for someone much older and bigger than I was, so there was quite a lot left over that had to be tucked out the way, as he didn't want to simply cut it off. Once he was satisfied, Link showed me out.

"Have you lost your mind?" I hissed to him once it was just the two of us. "What were you doing back there?"

"Nudging things along," he replied calmly. "I did tell you I'd do that from time to time."

"You turned things around so that I don't have any choice but to help him! And you knew I'd have to go on an adventure for this, so you even worked that in!"

"I know," he admitted. "I'm rather proud of it myself. Are you sure you don't want me to give you a hand with that sword though? I know you've never picked one up before."

I gave him a flat look. "Hold the bit that's not sharp and point the other at what I'm trying to kill," I said. "That's not hard, that's common sense. Everything else I'll pick up as I go along. Stop trying to meddle and let me do the job you've cornered me into doing."

"Little testy, aren't we?"

"Who's fault is that?" I demanded irritably. "Just stay out of my way, Link. I'll call you if I need you."

"Whatever you say," he chuckled. "You're my Chosen Hero, after all. Here we are my little friend, the way out. Try not to get distracted now, won't you?" he asked, his eyes almost glittering. I didn't bother to answer him.

I headed out of the castle grounds and was going to head into town, if nothing else to pick up a map of the rest of Hyrule, but almost immediately it became apparent this wasn't going to be so easy. The sudden release of all the various monsters had also caused some disruption, and what had once been the north gate was now a mass of rubble that had been flung out of the ground. One of the guards, very conveniently, 'happened' to know I was looking for a map and 'happened' to have one. Sometimes Link is annoyingly obvious.

The guard also warned me about Octoroks, little red creatures that wandered around fairly aimlessly and spat rocks. I saw a few of them on my way around the town, and I used them as practice for the sword. Not that I thought Link was _right_, but if I was going to carry it, I ought to at least get familiar with it. They didn't really make for very good practice though, since one stab or slash defeated them, instead of leaving a body making them puff out of existence in a brief puff of white smoke.

They were adequate to start with, and relatively harmless once I learned to avoid the rocks, so they at least kept my mind off certain other things as I made my way southwards for the Minish Woods, and the first stop on the adventure Link had effectively forced me into.


	4. Ezlo's Entrance

The Minish Woods were distinctly different to the surrounding parts of Hyrule. It's almost like a different climate entirely, cooler and quieter than the more wilder lands. A vast canopy of leaves spread overhead, all manner of woodland life scampering about without concern for me or the few Octoroks I saw. Despite the cover ahead, there was a maze formed of sunbeams and low bushes weaving and winding around immense trees.

Fortunately the map I'd been given was detailed enough to give me at least a general idea of where I was going, and I had my own ways to navigate in a forest. I selected a common bush near the entrance and started picking twigs from it, laying them beside trees and other landmarks as I went through, always pointing in such a way that all I'd need to do was glance at them and I'd know which way to go if I wanted to leave – or retrace my steps so far. The only places this failed me were the small pools of water, mostly shallow, that dotted the area. I don't really enjoy soaking myself for no real reason though, so I avoided them for now.

Along the way I came across a low stump that was all that was left of one of the trees here, having once stood in solitary immensity in the middle of its sun-drenched clearing. What I found interesting though was not that there was a small hole in the top of the stump, but that between two protruding roots there was a tiny archway carved into the bark – mute evidence of the Minish who inhabited these woods.

There were, however, no sign of these diminutive little creatures near the stump. I poked about a bit more in the area, travelling over the top of a gnarled old log and passing some shallows to discover what appeared to be a a miniature village, something I took care not to show my interest in too closely in case I startled the local Minish.

This presented an immediate problem. How was I going to meet the Picori when there was no way I could meet them on their terms without terrifying them? And even if I did try it that way, if this was the Minish village, I couldn't see a single one of them. Granted I was looking from a distance so as not to disturb them too much, but I have a keen eye, and I saw no signs of movement down there.

I wandered about fairly aimlessly, making sure I left my marker twigs but otherwise trying to think my way through this. I could call Link, but after how he'd cornered me into this I didn't want to give him that satisfaction.

All right, so it was childish. What do you expect of me?

It was while I was wandering I heard a voice cry out for help. I knew roughly which direction it had come from, but the thick undergrowth in some areas made it impossible to get their directly. As I listened, I heard the sound of Octoroks spitting rocks, and someone cry out, "Ouch! Watch where you're spitting those things! Isn't there anyone in this blasted forest who can hear me?"

I didn't bother to reply, since whoever it was would only have to wait for me to get to them. I made a quick dash back to the clearing with the stump, then up through several more tree dotted clearings where I saw some... thing. It was the same green as I was wearing, and it looked sort of like a cap, but it had eyes and a long yellow beak. Two Octoroks were spitting rocks at it.

While I stopped and stared at this apparition, it stopped and stared back at me.

"Hey, kid," it called to me, definitely the one who'd asked for help. "Give me a hand here!" One of the Octoroks spat another rock at it before I moved, and it exclaimed, "Don't just stand there, do something! Do you _like_ seeing me take this abuse?"

Whatever this thing was, it needed help, and two Octoroks weren't going to be much of a challenge. If it wasn't too grateful about it I could always lose it – it didn't look like it could move too quickly.

I lofted a rock at the farther Octorok, which turned on me and missed because no one hits me unless I let them, while I made a quick dash for the nearest one and stabbed it. The remaining one spat a rock at me which I made a swipe for, trying to strike it back toward it but due to inexperience with the sword, I inadvertently struck the creature instead.

"Hey! Don't you start too!" it complained, while I quickly dealt with the Octorok the usual way.

"I'm not used to a sword, alright?" I told it once I'd finished, wiping off the blade on the leaves of a convenient bush. "'course, if you try to tell anyone that I'll deny it," I added.

"I wonder why," it muttered. "Anyway, that was well done! Not that I couldn't handle them myself, of course."

"Oh, of course," I said, my voice clearly stating what I thought of that statement.

"Anyway," it said quickly. "That's beside the point. What in the world is a lone..." it hesitated. "Lone whatever you are doing so deep in the woods?"

"Saving a talking hat, by the looks of things," I replied. "And I'm a hedgehog – probably the only one you'll ever see, too. Do you need anything else? Only I've kinda got a problem I'm trying to figure out."

"A problem? Lay it on me, my boy! I owe you for helping me out!"

"I don't think you'll be able to help, but... someone named Vaati entered the swordsman's contest at the castle, broke the Picori Blade that was sealing a bunch of monsters in a chest and turned Princess Zelda to stone, and I agreed to track down the Minish, or Picori, or whatever they're called, so I can get them to reforge the Picori Blade and break Vaati's curse. Only the Minish are too small to see, and I'm too big to reach them."

The thing chuckled. "An interesting tale. It seems we have much in common, my boy. You see, I too am on a quest to break a curse of Vaati's. And if you say reforging the sword is the way to break the curse, then it seems I have a need of it too."

I stared at it for a time, then sighed. "This just gets more and more weird, d'ya know that? I'm talking to a hat with a beak that wants me to-" I broke off, realizing something. Link had told me there'd be someone I'd meet along the way who'd be helpful. Was this... thing that one?

It took my pause as excuse to speak up again. "Yes, yes. I need you to break a curse, you're on your way to it anyway. So you have found yourself a companion, my boy! My name is Ezlo and you're..."

"Manic," I replied absently, still thinking. Link had mentioned Ezlo – and Ezlo had conveniently forgotten to mention he was a Minish sorcerer. I decided not to question him about that there and then – it might prove useful later on, since he was likely to insist on coming with me. "Come on then," I told him. "I think I know where the Minish village is, for all the good it does us."

"Leave that one to me," Ezlo said. "I can arrange it so you can meet them on their terms."

"I hope _someone_ can, otherwise I'm going to be at this for a long time."

I started back toward the tree stump at what I thought was a fair pace, Ezlo hopping awkwardly along behind me, having trouble keeping up. I didn't even notice until he irritably called, "Will you slow down? Surely you can see I have no legs!"

I waited for him to catch up, catch his breath and then set off once again at a slower pace – which he also found too quick. Again he stopped me.

"Honestly, do you really think I can walk that fast!"

In a show of patience I afforded him only because of Link, I gritted my teeth, waited and started again, going at a snail's pace now. Ezlo finally gave up.

"You're a troublesome boy, do you know that?" he told me, catching up. "Hold still a moment, will you?"

"What _are_ you looking for?" I demanded as he circled me.

"Hold still I said!" Ezlo insisted, then with surprising agility for what he was, he leapt up on to the back of my head and, much like the cap he appeared to be, set himself over my quills and wriggled a bit until he was comfortable. He wasn't as heavy as I'd thought, and once he stopped fidgeting, it really wasn't too uncomfortable for me either.

"There," he said with satisfaction. "Now you can't leave me behind, and I can keep an eye on you too! Now, I imagine a young boy like you has so much to learn, so feel free to ask me about anything you see, and lets set off!"

* * *

"Wait, you're telling us that cap of yours there is a Minish sorcerer?" Knuckles asked, pointing to Manic's cap.

"This? Oh no," he laughed. "When I defeated Vaati I broke the curse on Ezlo too and he turned back into his normal self. Zelda remarked that I didn't look right without a cap though, so he created one on the spot for me, and that's what I've worn ever since. He wasn't a bad companion as such – a bit irritable at times, and he complained terribly about some of the things I got up to, but I don't think I could have done everything without him."

"It's because it's a tradition," Tails said absently, correcting something in Shad's account of his story. "Midna was much the same – I'd never have managed without her." He looked up briefly, then distantly, "I wonder how she's doing?"

"I could probably find a way to the Palace of Twilight if you want," Silver offered. "We could go see the place Knuckles got turned into a wolf too."

Knuckles winced, "I've been trying to forget that. Did you really have to bring it up?"

"But you made such a good wolf," Tails told him with a wicked smile.


	5. The Minish Village

Ezlo didn't really say very much once I started to trek back southwards, though I felt him shift about on my head a bit, either getting comfortable still or just generally looking about. When we reached the stump, however, he suddenly leaned forward.

"Hold on a moment, my boy!" he exclaimed. "We've stumbled across something important here?"

"This?" I asked in disbelief. "Ezlo, that's a tree stump. About the only important thing about it is the little doorway I saw between two of the roots before. Probably just a Minish home or something."

"Ah, not so! Perhaps you aren't aware of it as I am... do you not see the sparkling lights above it?"

"I see a tree stump," I repeated. "That's all."

Ezlo stared at me for a moment. "Right. One moment then," he told me, then spoke a few words in a tongue that was completely lost on me. There was a bright flash that seemed to be everywhere, and afterwards, everything was the same – except for glittering motes of light coming from the tree stump.

"Alright," I said, trying to conceal my surprise. "So the stump is lit up. What of it?"

"You really are a tiresome boy, aren't you?" Ezlo sighed. "The world of the Minish is very small, as you noticed. You're far to big to meet them. In the old days, people who knew how could use special portals, like this one, to change their size – and that's what this is!"

"And this works... how?"

"Ah... well, for you, it's as simple as hopping up there. I work a little Minish magic and we shrink right down to Minish size. I need not do anything for the reverse – just wander back into that archway you saw and climb back up, and the stump will do the rest for you. Now, up you get, my boy, and let's give it a whirl!"

I humoured him, since I needed to meet the Minish, scrambling up and waiting. He stood up – if that's the right word for an animated hat – and spoke more words in that strange language, the words appearing as glimmering symbols in the air around us, then I started to shrink rapidly, everything around growing at a startling rate.

I fell through the hole in the stump, bouncing off some springy mushrooms inside the hollow stump even as I finished shrinking. There were ladders – ordinarily tiny ladders – I could use to climb back up, if I'd wanted.

The tiny archway I'd seen before now looked more like a normal-sized arch, but then that was just a matter of perspective. It was still tiny, and now so was I. It was strange however, looking at the world outside the stump again from a Minish's perspective.

The trees had loomed before, but now they towered. The short grass was now in places a veritable jungle, even where it was kept shorter it was still heavy enough that it'd be much harder to trek through it.

I realized immediately that this change of perspective made minor things become much more dangerous. A few shallows were now more like a bottomless swamp, and monsters that I'd have no issue fighting before would now be so immense as to appear gargantuan, and almost certainly something I should avoid.

"Aren't you glad you saved me now?" Ezlo asked. "My little bit of magic means you'll be able to tell when you're close to a portal by those lights. You might find them in the most unlikely places – you never know what might be a portal."

"Yeah," I said a little distractedly. "I can imagine. This might take a bit longer than I thought then. It wasn't far to what I think was the village before, but now..."

"Best foot forward then, Manic!" Ezlo replied brightly.

The hollow log I'd gone over the top of before was more convenient as a tunnel instead, and once inside I spotted signs of it not being natural. The Minish had evidently done this themselves, though it must have taken a long time to do so.

A small shallow lake at the far side came next, and I'll admit to not being the world's best swimmer. As a Minish besides now, I didn't particularly feel like getting wet and becoming lunch for some annoying insect or something.

So instead I took my sword to a nearby plant, hacking through it to cut down one leaf, then cutting off a bit more of the stem. After a bit of grunting and heaving I managed to get the leaf into the lake and used my extra piece of stem as a makeshift oar, paddling across instead.

"Nice solution to that problem," Ezlo noted. "Where did you come up with it?"

"I came across a large plant with leaves about that size – compared to my normal size, I mean," I replied. "I needed to cross a large lake in a hurry and I didn't have time to steal a boat, so I cut it down and used it instead."

"Steal a boat? What on earth would you do that for?"

"There'd been a bit of a misunderstanding in the town I was running from," I shrugged. "People can get so uptight over a few little things finding their way into my pockets. The place was in a forest, so I was able to use it to help avoid them, but I'd already seen some of them head down to the nearby port, and I didn't feel like playing with them."

"You're a thief?" Ezlo asked, apparently astonished.

"Among many other things. I'm an almost habitual liar out of necessity, because a thief has to be able to talk himself out of any situation, and I can cheat at most any card or dice game. Got a pair of dice somewhere I spent a long time training to do exactly what I wanted. Strangely enough no one seems to want to play dice with me any more. I can't imagine why."

"That's terrible!" he gasped. "How can you live with yourself?"

"Continuously?" I suggested. "It's more for the fun of it, Ezlo," I told him expansively. "Doing it without getting caught, the occasional fun of getting chased and losing them... I just happen to come across all kinds of things along the way. You can try and talk me out of it if you want, but I've got a feeling there's an entire adventure spreading ahead of us, and I think by the end of it you might find yourself admitting that my bad habits have a way of helping us."

"Not if I can help it," he told me disapprovingly.

"I'll make you a deal then," I said, pausing to tie up my makeshift boat in case I needed it again. "I'll teach you to lie, cheat and steal. You teach me a bit of truth and morality. Or try, anyway. You won't be the first."

Ezlo didn't answer, looking as if he was starting to reassess me. I didn't blame him, but I did need him. If it came down to it, I'd ignore Link and tell Ezlo about him to get him to stay with me. Link could forbid that all he wanted, I'd get back at him for it somehow.

We wandered up a broad path that had occasional twigs and acorns lying on them, each one appearing to be massive compared to us. The small twigs were almost as thick as I was, and far taller – no way I'd be able to shift those. Leaves and other small things however had been taken to the sides of the path, keeping it otherwise scrupulously clean.

It narrowed at the north end of it, the path now surrounded by leafy bushes and a few smaller stems and leaves forming archways above us as we entered the Minish village itself. I recognised it from earlier, but now I was able to enter it I got a whole new look at it.

It opened into a clearing just before an old boot that was being used as a home, and scattered about were several Minish. Unlike the smith, who had called them imp-like, I thought they were more elf-like really, with long pointed ears. They wore a riot of sometimes conflicting colours, but always had the same red cap on, and they approached with some surprise and excitement – and a language which I didn't understand a word of.

After a few moments talking in their strange language the Minish left again, a couple heading into the boot house, others spreading through the village.

"That was certainly interesting," Ezlo noted. "I gather it's been a long time since they last saw someone who wasn't a Minish, and since you're not human, they're even more fascinated."

"I'm so happy for them," I said a little tartly. "But I don't speak their language, Ezlo."

"Hm, yes. I'm afraid I didn't quite catch a lot of it myself. It's most different to the dialect I'm familiar with. Perhaps there's someone here somewhere who speaks our language, eh?"

"Being a little optimistic, aren't you? I asked, starting to follow the paths between the leaves. Ezlo didn't reply, looking about the village as we passed through. We found a number of curious things the Minish had turned into houses – a barrel which doubled as a place for them to grow plants, an old vase, what appeared to be a gemstone of some sort once, but had now been cut and carved into the roof of a very ornate looking house that even had a moat around the front. Mushrooms also seemed to be a popular choice, a large cluster in the middle proving to be the most populated part of the village, and also a kind of marketplace for them.

Naturally though, none of the Minish going about their business spoke our language, but they all pointed and gabbled away as we passed – which saved me the trouble and embarrassment of trying to talk to someone who had no idea what I was saying.

In the ornate house I found a Minish who was considerably less excitable, and clothed more like a priest than other Minish I'd seen – and he also spoke our language.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "You'd be the strange creature I've been hearing about."

"Thank the gods for that," I sighed. "I thought there was no one here I'd be able to understand. I'm Manic, and this is Ezlo."

"You are welcome among us, friends. I am Festari, and I watch over this abbey – along with the old shrine."

"Old shrine?"

"Indeed. It lies to the north of here, and we used to go there – but of late, monsters have infested it, so we have had to leave it."

I spotted an opportunity when I saw one. "I'm here on other business, Festari," I said thoughtfully. "But if you can help me and my friend understand the language of the Minish, I'd be willing to repay you by going in and clearing out the shrine for you."

"Is that so? Then I would go to the back of the barrel house, just south of here, and eat one of our Jabber nuts. They'll allow you to speak and understand our language, without even realizing it! And then perhaps, you could return here and tell me of this other business?"

"Of course. We'll be right back."

"That was neat," Ezlo murmured as we left. "How did you know he'd offer the Jabber nuts?"

"I didn't," I replied. "But I suspected they'd have something, even if it's a few hours with him teaching me the language. All I had to do was offer him something for it. See Ezlo, I told you my way was more convenient."

Ezlo didn't answer that.

It didn't take us long to retrace the route to the barrel house and push aside a box to retrieve a Jabber Nut – they couldn't be mistaken for two reasons. Not only were the plants growing them labelled in the Hylian tongue as well as the Minish one, it was the only nut there, and it was the only plant that looked like a beak talking. It didn't taste too bad either.

When we returned to the abbey, Festari had been joined by another Minish, also wearing robes and bearing a long, thin stick as a staff, and the two were talking quietly. They broke off when I entered – something I've always found irritating.

"Ah, Manic and Ezlo," Festari greeted us. "We were just talking about you." And that's why I find it irritating. "This is Gentari, our Elder."

"Festari was just telling me what you planned to do," Gentari told me. "The shrine is quite dangerous right now."

"We understand that, revered Elder," Ezlo told him respectfully. "But we are on a quest to restore the broken Picori Blade, and I have long heard that the shrine here must be involved in that."

"Indeed," Gentari nodded. "You hear correctly. There are four such shrines in the land of Hyrule, each one protecting one of the four elemental crystals, and to fully reforge the sword you must infuse it with these four elements. The shrine guards the Earth Element... but of late-"

"We know," I cut him off. "Monsters. I've never met a monster yet I couldn't best in an unfair fight – unfair in my favour, of course," I grinned.

Ezlo gave me a brief look, then said, "I can speak for the boy's bravery, if nothing else, and I can guide him there – if not keep him out of trouble."

"Me?" I asked, feigning innocence. "Get into trouble? Would I ever?"

Festari and Gentari looked on with amusement, while Ezlo looked skyward and said, "Why me?"

"You really want an answer to that?" I grinned at him.

"Not if I get it from you," he replied.

"They're perfectly suited to each other, wouldn't you say?" Gentari observed.

"One can only hope," Festari chuckled. "Very well – just go through this doorway and head north until you come to the shrine. You'll know it when you see it. And though I have a feeling you won't be the ones needing it... good luck to you."


	6. Deepwood Shrine

Deepwood Shrine, as Ezlo named it, was reached by a short stone path leading out from the back of the abbey, first leading through a set of whitewashed walls into a grassy courtyard, then into the shrine itself. It appeared from the outside to be open to the skies, with various small bushes that to my perspective were more like trees growing out of the top.

Through the ornate archway was a stone room that had four carved statues that didn't look like anything I'd ever seen before, or since either for that matter, several pots, two sets of stairs leading upwards that were covered by massive spider webs. Some small rocks that had evidently fallen from the ceiling littered the area just ahead, where a collection of ornately carved totems blocked the way to the only clear doorway in the room.

"So this is the shrine?" Ezlo mused to himself. "I've always wondered what it was like inside. The Elder said... there'd be monsters in here, didn't he?" he asked.

"Well, I did. But he kinda confirmed it," I replied, testing my sword on the webs. Whatever spider had made them had made them good and strong, and my sword simply bounced off.

"No need to be afraid of them, then," he told me. "I'll just be waiting here-" he broke off a little guiltily, then said, "What am I saying? I'm going with you, of course!"

"What's wrong, Ezlo? I grinned. "Afraid of a few monsters?"

"Don't be silly I just... alright, so maybe a little," he said a bit peevishly. "It's hard to handle them when you're a... whatever I am."

"Hat, cap, whatever," I shrugged, examining the totems. They didn't appear to have any value to them and weren't worth trying to remove, so instead I just shoved one aside and moved on.

Unlike the entrance, which was lit by light streaming in through the entrance, this room was dark. The slight light that still came through from the previous room gave some scanty illumination, enough to make out dark shapes of several things that were moving around, a couple of low, raised stones and some torch pits in the floor beside each of them.

I waited for a few moments to allow my eyes to adjust to the gloom, making out the moving shadows as what appeared to be slugs – and they were about the same size as me! Being Minish sized _definitely_ gives you a new perspective on these things.

They weren't hostile though, just wandering around on their own leaving slimy trails everywhere, so I ignored them and checked one of the raised stones. It moved slightly at the touch, and once shoved into the ground there was a series of clinking, like that of someone striking a flint and steel, and the torch beside it lit up.

With the slight extra light I could now make out the door on the opposite side of the room, a heavy wooden door that had a large lock on it. I knew exactly what I was going to do there, but just for completeness sake, and so Ezlo could see better, I repeated for the other three torches and switches.

The slugs edged away from the newly lit fires, but what got my attention was the small chest that flickered into existence in the middle of the room, carrying with it a small silver key.

"Well that's convenient," Ezlo said. "And just when we needed one, too."

"Oh yeah?" I said. "Just watch."

Instead of using the key I stowed it away and from my fanny pack, took out a roll of cloth that held my wide array of lockpicks and other tools useful for such things. A few moments with one of the picks and the lock clicked, clunked, then vanished and let the door open by itself.

"Was that really necessary?" Ezlo said plaintively. "I mean, you had the key. What was the point – except to show off."

"Just think what'd happen if we came up against one of those doors and _didn't _have the key for it," I told him. "I think you'd stop having a problem with it then."

"Well, maybe, but that's no excuse, Manic. Doors like that are probably locked for a reason."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll only pick the locks for doors I have a key for, and we'll pretend I've used that key," I sighed. "But I'll have you know it's very immoral in my book."

"Immoral?" he objected. "Not picking locks is immoral?"

"You forget, you're talking to a thief," I laughed, looking about the next room. It was larger, and lit up by a gap in the stony ceiling where rocks had fallen away to create some nearby shallows. Water made it impossible without swimming to cross from the narrow stones on this side of the room to the matching ones opposite.

Sat on an island on its own was a small blue mushroom, wobbling slightly in a faint breeze, and up on one of the walls was a handle that had no apparent use.

"I hate getting wet," I muttered to myself. "It makes sneaking harder, and dripping leaves a trail."

"Is that _all_ you think about?" Ezlo asked in exasperation. "Honestly, if it wasn't for me... haul on that switch over there," he told me, pointing toward the handle with his beak.

Pulling it out to full length caused a bridge to extend out of nothingness, making a path from this side to the mushroom island.

"Alright. Now what?" I asked him. "I suppose you want me to pull the mushroom too?"

"Of course."

"I was joking, Ezlo."

"I wasn't," he told me, and sighed. "Just do it, Manic. You want to keep dry, don't you?"

I didn't feel like arguing with him for now, so pulled it back and found it was strangely elastic. I drew it back until Ezlo told me to stop and jump, and the mushroom snapped back, flinging me up against the wall of the far side – painfully.

"I hate you," I told Ezlo, wincing as I got back up. "You could have warned me."

"You're young, you'll heal," he told me somewhat heartlessly.

"Don't push it," I told him. "I'll leave you behind again otherwise – with all the monsters in here."

Ezlo shut up.

The next area was also lit up by larger gaps in the ceiling, but that wasn't what was remarkable here. A barrel, ordinarily rather small, now appeared to be absolutely massive, not quite filling the room but occupying a large part of it. It looked as if it had crashed in through the ceiling and had several large holes torn in it by the impact. It had also been here long enough for vines to grow and anchor it in place.

Conveniently – and no doubt thanks to Link – up some steps to one end of the room was another switch-activated torch which burned away the attaching vines on this end. On the way up there was a lot of sandy dust, along with a strange creature that was playing in it, but I ignored it for now. It wasn't a threat, and even though I'd said I'd clear out this place, I don't really approve of killing stuff unnecessarily. The Octoroks on the way here had just been for practice, so don't call me out on those.

There was no way to reach the vines on the other side just yet however as several rockfalls had blocked off that part of the area. The only way to progress was to enter the barrel through one of the openings, and then exit through a separate one on the opposite side.

This let me pass some of the rock falls, allowing me to go from the south-eastern part of the room to the north-western one, where with more of the sand were two more of the flower-like creatures playing in them. As long as they ignored me, I was content to let them be. I'm sure that'll offend Silver, who seemed to habitually depopulate dungeons and Temples. I'm more practical about it, and though at this point I didn't know about the bosses, my way was better for them because it meant I wasn't wasting energy on these small fries.

From this small area I could reach the other torch, but unlike the first one this one had two switches. It was a small matter to tug a conveniently placed totem over one of them and trigger the other one myself, burning away the vines on this side.

"I'm sure there's a reason for that," Ezlo said, not looking impressed.

I regarded what I'd done briefly, then answered, "Sure there is. See there – that axle coming from the top of the barrel?" I pointed. "There was another one on the other side, and they're resting in those grooves. The vines were holding the barrel in place, but without them if we go inside I'll bet we'll be able to run up one side and make the barrel move, as if it was some kinda giant hamster ball."

"A giant _what_?"

"Hamster ball. You know what a hamster is, don't you?"

"I haven't got a clue what you're talking about, Manic," Ezlo replied. "Not that I'm surprised by that."

"Be nice," I admonished. "They're little furry creatures that love to explore. Some people keep them as pets, and so they don't escape or lose them, they put them into little clear plastic balls so they can explore safely."

Ezlo gave me a look. "Are you pulling my leg? Brim? Whatever I've got, I don't know."

"Would I do that?"

"If you thought it was funny, yes," he sighed.

"Got that right," I smirked, wandering into the barrel. It moved as we entered, almost making me lose my balance.

There were only three openings that were safe and large enough to use, and one of them was covered by another springy web. Before I did anything, I headed back out and up to the torch ledge to have a look at where I'd need them, then went back inside and turned the barrel so I could exit north-east instead.

One door here refused to budge however, and the other door was locked. To humour Ezlo at least, I left it alone rather than picking it right away..

"Try the other corner of the room," he suggested. "There was a door there too. You'll want to use the other gap for it."

"Patience, Ezlo," I told him. "We're not on a schedule as such. Vaati's gone off in completely the wrong direction for the stuff he's looking for, and people turned to stone aren't likely to have anything to worry about. King Daltus will see to that. We can take the time to look about more thoroughly."

"I suppose that's part of your thieves' code too, is it?"

"In a way," I answered, setting the barrel into the new position. "It pays to know the details, Ezlo. If you overlook something it could come back to bite you later. Better to take the time now while you have it and be better prepared."

"I think that's the first thing you've said that's sensible enough for me to agree with," he muttered.


	7. A Matter of Morality

Beyond the only door I could go through was a U-shaped room with yet more of the dust on the southern part of the floor, though this time there were none of the flower-creatures. On one side my passage was blocked by a large stone that refused to budge, on the other was another mushroom and a small pond. Beyond the closer area was a second pond and another place to land.

There was also an interesting red bug-like thing Ezlo told me was a Mulldozer, and unlike other monster life so far, this one _was_ hostile, and charged me as soon as it saw me. I avoided it easily, and stabbed a few times to persuade it I didn't want to play. It didn't get the idea, forcing me to kill it instead.

Once it was down I could either use the mushroom to pass only the first pond and go through the nearby door, or pull it back further and reach the back one. There were stairs there that led up to a raised ledge that appeared to come all the way back down to this end of the room. Since I could probably jump down to the part with the door, I pulled it back what I judged to be far enough to throw me to the far side, and met with another wall.

"By the time I get out of here those things will have done more to me than any monster," I groaned.

"Well how else are you going to cross the water?"

"Believe me, I think I'd rather swim – and I don't even swim all that well either. At least I'm not terrified of water like my older brother."

Up the steps was a large chest which refused to open, and the key I still had wouldn't unlock it, so I fell back on my picks to make it cooperate and from this massive chest took out... a small roll of crackling parchment with a map of the place on it. I took one long look, committing it to memory, then stuffed it into my tunic for convenience. Silver also noted tunics are very good for that sort of thing.

Next was another partly waterlogged room, along with a small dragonfly made bigger because of my size. It evidently saw me as something to attack, forcing me to get rid of it too. A switch in the floor here refused to stay switched, when pressed causing another bridge to extend out of nowhere – and retract again once weight was removed.

A convenient pot allowed me to bypass more stubbornly unmovable stones by weighing down the switch and take the southern door here, entering a far smaller room that had yet more stones separating off a rough square. Two stone totems stood beside two floor switches, and when both were pushed into position a chest appeared on a floor tile – within the stone square. I had to shove one of the totems further in and then push it back from inside to reach the smaller chest, which unlike the bigger one opened easily, netting the second silver key that I didn't need.

On the way back to the locked door we'd seen before, Ezlo spoke up again.

"Hey, Manic. I've got this strange idea for you to consider. Why don't you actually use the keys instead of just keeping track of which ones you've picked the locks for?"

"I told you, I'm a thief. Doing it the right way like that is practically immoral for me."

"Immoral is picking the lock instead! You could open every door in a dungeon out of sequence if you didn't have me stopping you!"

"Alright, think of it like this then," I sighed. "Picking locks is a skill, and you gotta keep doing it if you wanna stay in practice. So as long as I humour you and only unlock them if I've got a key I haven't 'used' yet, I can use them to keep in practice."

"I still don't like it."

"You don't have to like it," I told him pointedly, then to make my point went ahead and picked the lock again.

Yet more water flooded part of the room beyond. A set of stairs led up to a short corridor that was a one-way trip down into the room to the north, so I left that for the moment. If I wanted to cross the water here in this room I'd have to use more mushrooms – and to make it worse, once I used the first one I triggered a switch which created another bridge – which could have saved me so much effort.

I had to use a second one for which there was no bridge from there on, managing this time to make it to the other side without hitting the wall. I was at least starting to figure out just how far I needed to pull these back to land safely.

The door down here lead into a ring-shaped room, and two totems severely limited what I could see between them. Another switch was here, one of the stubborn ones that didn't stay switched, and when pressed it sounded like a door was opening beyond the totems. Since I rather doubted I could push two totems at once, I pulled back the far side one on to then over the switch, then circled back to shove the nearest all the way on to the switch, allowing me access to the northern door.

As soon as I entered the door closed behind me, and it had no lock, no handle, and no way to open it. Three more Mulldozers turned up immediately, and all three of them spotted me. They were however somewhat stupid and as soon as I climbed up on top of one of the two grotesque faces, like those at the entrance, they couldn't reach me, allowing me to dispatch them in short order.

With their defeat the door reopened, along with a second door west that I knew from the map led back into the room with the mushrooms, and another silver key dropped down from somewhere unseen in the ceiling.

That left me only one way to go – the one-way route I'd seen before. After going through a tunnel underneath the corridor, I emerged into yet another partly sand-filled room – how did it even get in here? More Mulldozers were here among the sand, dispatched because I knew if I didn't get them first, they'd only come for me.

I could now either go down some stairs to the north, or head west and stay on this floor. Downstairs there was little I could do without getting wet – a ring of pots around a switch, and pushing one on caused a chest to appear between two torches – small, but also big enough to block the way except for crossing the water nearby.

Moving a couple of stones nearby revealed a large chest that had, very curiously, already been opened and had no evidence of what had been inside, and since there was nothing else I could do here I headed back up then went west.

More sand was here, more than in any other room, and in places it formed up into dunes – dunes which parted as I passed and revealed themselves to be even more of the flower things. They were strangely immune to my sword, so again I ignored them.

I dug out a partly concealed switch to open the southern door, giving me access to the barrel room if I needed to backtrack, then moved to the west side of the room where there were two doors – one covered by another web, the other locked.

As soon as we entered the door locked behind me, and I quickly took in the room. More webs covered the walls and fallen stones created a small maze here, but giant compared to us was what appeared to be a caterpillar.

"Hit it's nose!" Ezlo commanded me. "Then quickly run to the other end and stab the tail!"

"But it's just-" I started to protest.

"Manic, that's a Madderpillar, and if you don't do something about it, we'll be stuck in here!"

This was, however, easily said than done. Naturally it didn't like it when I stuck my sword in it's bulbous nose, turning steadily white as I ran and scrambled over the rocks to reach the tail, which turned heart-shaped. I managed to land a few blows on it before the entire thing turned red, the heart vanishing, and it turned and started for me instead, moving pretty quick!

It seemed to not want to cross the rocks, so I scrambled over them even more to keep ahead of it, waiting for another opportunity. Eventually it calmed and turned blue again, allowing me to repeat once more.

I found while I was avoiding it the second time that the webs, even those on the walls, were very springy and I used them almost like a trampoline, bouncing myself off them to cross the room far quicker.

After a third repeat it started to explode from tail to head, splattering bits everywhere – though strangely not on me. When it was finally safe again, another large chest had appeared, containing what appeared to be a ceramic jar with two handles and no bottom.

"Who'd go to all the trouble of protecting this?" I demanded. "Even I wouldn't bother stealing it!"

"Don't be too quick to throw it away, Manic," Ezlo told me. "I do believe I recognise that. The Minish often conceal things by making them inconspicuous. That's a Gust Jar, if I'm not mistaken, and it reacts to your thoughts. If you will it to suck in air, it will, and if you think otherwise..."

"Magic, you mean," I said distastefully.

"Just try it, Manic. Point it at the door with the web – not at you!" he corrected quickly. "Now, imagine it sucking in air."

I did that, not really believing it'd work – only to be surprised as the previously immobile pottery started to shift and move, audibly sucking in air. The web resisted for a time before being sucked in after it. The longer I held it, the quicker it sucked things in.

When I stopped concentrating it spat back out everything it had collected, along with a tangled bit of string that was all that was left of the web.

I then went back a room and collected all the sand in it, blasting it back out at the flower-creatures, which threw them up against the walls where the vanished, defeated. Clearing up the sand here revealed three switches, one of which I had no idea what it did except for make a strange sound come from a ledge above, the other two created chests containing rupees.

I then went around the parts of the dungeon I'd already covered and did the same there, revealing switches that made more chests, and got me even more rupees.

"This is taking all the fun out of things," I complained again.

"Let me guess," Ezlo sighed. "All these free rupees you didn't have to steal, it's immoral."

"Don't be silly. It's just taking away my excuse to steal rupees whenever I want something."

"If you want something though, you'll just steal it anyway, won't you?"

"Of course – it's the first rule. Never pay for anything."

"So what does it matter? If you're going to steal it anyway, why bother?"

"I thought you didn't approve of that," I asked him, giving him a look.

"I most certainly don't approve of it," he told me. "But if you _are_ going to ignore me and do it anyway, you should at least be consistent."

"You're not being consistent either, Ezlo. You tell me you don't like my way of doing things, then you turn around and tell me how I should be doing it."

"Are you really going to listen to me if I try to change your ways?" he asked plaintively.

"You _really_ want me to answer that?" I grinned back.

"My point exactly."


	8. Jelly Time

At this point I actually had everything I needed to go and fight the boss, but since I knew the place to be unoccupied – except for monsters – I decided to take advantage of that and loot the place for all it was worth. I knew where I had to go, like Silver and Tails – if he'd ever read the maps himself – both noticed, it's marked with a skull on the map. The fact was though that there were other places to go to, and potentially more gains to be gained.

The immediate problem was that I had only one way down into the basement floor of the shrine, and I'd already been there. I needed an alternative, and I suspected I knew exactly where I'd find it.

I backtracked once again to the barrel, putting it in a position where the webbed hole was on the same level as me just ahead, then sucked off the web with the Gust Jar and moved the barrel some more.

Once the hole pointed right down, I leaned over and saw a leafy plant sat in some shallows, a large, conveniently placed, lily pad, and another insect that hadn't spotted me yet. At least the plant would make it easier to get down, just not get back up again. A couple of slashes got rid of the insect on the way down, then while it was relatively safe I looked about in more detail.

The lily pad Link had provided was definitely useful here. Rainwater must have come down here and completely submerged anything that had been down here, as in the rather murky depths there were signs of a sunken floor.

"Ezlo," I said thoughtfully. "This Gust Jar. It blows as well as sucks, doesn't it?"

Don't even think of making a crude remark! And I mean it!

"Of course," he replied. "Just think about which you want, and it'll answer. What mischief are you planning with it?"

"Watch and learn," I smirked back, leaping the gap over to the lily pad. I placed the Gust Jar partly into the water and made it aware I wanted it to blow out air instead this time. A sudden eruption of bubbles took place, then it started to push the lily pad away like a boat engine would.

"Convenient," Ezlo conceded. "I suppose there's some story to go with this idea too?"

"No, but I did say I'm a liar – I can make one up for you if you like."

"I think I'll pass. You _do_ know where we're going, don't you? I haven't seen you check the map since you got it."

"That's because I've got it up here," I said, tapping my head as I moved the jar to change our course.

There was a door here, but it was locked and I didn't have another spare silver key to use on it. I'd have preferred to ignore that, but it was keeping the peace with Ezlo, after all.

That meant I had to head east into another sunken room, in which only the tops of various pillars poked out of the water, along with most of a set of stairs. The way ahead was blocked by tall posts that stretched all the way to the ceiling, leaving only a small gap to show they came from the floor instead.

Up the steps was a small area with yet more pots. Unlike probably every other Hero, I _didn't_ smash them up, since that would have left evidence I'd been there. There may not have been anyone else here, but sloppy work can become habit forming.

In amongst them I found another switch, and to be safe I didn't bother to find out if it was one that didn't cooperate and just put a pot on top of it. The pillars in the water retracted noisily with a great splash, and when I returned to my lily pad boat and moved around to look, all that was left was a small stump of each sticking out of the floor, far below the surface.

That allowed me to proceed north into a room that if I was right, the map had told me I'd been to before – the room with the strangely already opened large chest, and the smaller one I wasn't getting to without a means of crossing water. The lily pad did just that, netting me the silver key I needed to appease Ezlo's need for at least some morality in all this.

Beyond there was a room that was only partly submerged, what was left covered in conveniently placed mushrooms, and not enough space to land without hitting something. I regarded the room critically for a few moments, then went back and hauled the lily pad up, out of the water, then awkwardly through the door instead.

"The lengths you go to just to stay dry are astonishing, Manic," Ezlo observed dryly.

"It's not that I _can't_ swim," I told him. "But do you have any idea how long it takes for me to dry out?"

"That's all that's stopping you?" he asked as I looted the chest, finding what appeared to be a part of a lock. I wasn't quite sure what that was for, but kept it anyway and stepped on a nearby switch, causing a tile close to there turn red and light up.

"Pretty much," I told him. "What's that?"

"It looks like some kind of magic portal. The Minish used to use them to cross areas they found troublesome or dangerous to cross, or just for convenience, but the secrets of how to make them has been lost for a long time. Just step on to find out where it takes you."

Stepping into it caused everything to blur for a moment with a wrenching feeling, then I was stood beside a similarly red tile lit up in the entrance room, with another one right beside it that was blue.

Curiosity got the better of me and I used the blue one too, taken to an area I wasn't sure of the location of – and another strange object that looked like a part of a lock. These were important things, as I soon found out.

The only thing left to do now was to go upstairs. I sucked the web off the western staircase and headed up, finding this was the wrong side as rockfall had blocked it off. A chest gave me some more rupees, but that was all.

When I went up the other set of stairs I sighed again. More water was in a pool here, and in the middle of it was another mushroom. At least there was enough room to land without smacking into anything, hopping from this side to the far side using the Gust Jar to draw the mushroom toward me, then from the south side up to the embrasure containing the boss door.

The strange pieces of lock became useful at that point, as it was evident that they'd been removed from it. It took me only a few moments to repair it and pick it, over Ezlo's renewed objections. I pointed out however that we had left no part of the shrine unchecked, and there was no key anywhere that fit this lock.

The room beyond had no ceiling, rather just a leafy canopy made from the shrubs surrounding it. I ignored the door slamming shut behind us, observing the completely empty room.

"Where's the element?" Ezlo wondered. "Why go to all this trouble only to leave an empty room?"

"Hush, Ezlo," I told him. "There's something here."

"How can you tell?"

"Call it thieves' sense. I always know when there's someone watching me. Someone or something is here."

On cue, a large green blob of jelly fell through the leaves and splattered down on to the floor. As another followed it, the parts that had splashed off were quickly drawn back to the blob, which sat quivering. More globs fell, starting to merge with each other, then a veritable torrent came down and formed up into a strange jelly-like creature.

"ChuChu!" Ezlo exclaimed.

"Gesundheit," I replied absently, watching warily as it turned to stare at me.

"No, that's what it is! It just looks massive because we're so small."

"Ezlo, right now I need to know how to get rid of it, not what it is," I told him, quickly moving as it leapt up and tried to land on me. More jelly globs splattered away as it landed, but they too were drawn back to it.

"The Gust Jar," he said after a moments thought. "Suck it away with the jar. Go for its foot, that'll make it unsteady."

"And just what good is that going to do me?"  
"I don't know, I haven't thought that far ahead yet!" he retorted.

I didn't see that his idea would do very much, but my mind was quickly changed. The jelly I sucked up with the Gust Jar did _not_ regenerate, it vanished for good. Even as I evaded its attempts to land on me, I kept sucking away the foot, taking any of the jelly globs that splashed away from it where I could.

The ChuChu seemed not to know what I was doing, and soon enough it was stumbling around on a too-small foot, struggling to keep its head up. Once, it spotted me and deliberately fell over to try and land on me, but I'm too quick to be caught so simply.

I quickly sucked up the globs that had splashed off from that, then paused and did something I'd probably never have done otherwise, taking my sword to the temporarily stunned ChuChu and carving chunks out of it. They tried to return to the ChuChu, but I alternated between cutting them out and sucking them up.

The ChuChu eventually got back up, tottering for a few moments before it shrunk as it sent more jelly to the foot. If I kept this up I'd be able to repeat a few more times and force it down to my scale, then the sword would be able to defeat it easily.

I kept on it, starting to become adept at exchanging sword for the Gust Jar and back again to pick up every last bit until the ChuChu, except for it's bulging eyes, had shrunk so much it was barely bigger than I was – and then it exploded, flinging chunks everywhere which this time, just dissolved.

Naturally, one of them caught me and flung me against a wall one last time. Next time I saw Link, I decided I was going to make it clear what I thought of him for that.

Once the jelly had dissolved and I'd finished muttering to myself about this, I saw that in the middle of the room, beside a green portal was a large amethyst in the shape of three tear drops that was warm to the touch and seemed to resonate with power – the Earth Element, of course. I retrieved it, then took the green portal back to the entrance and of course, back outside. I was done playing with monsters for now, I decided.

* * *

**A/N: **Alright, yes I took a few liberties with the boss battle. But simply hacking away at it just didn't seem to be enough somehow.

My choice of changing the Big Key for pieces of the lock is partly inspired by the boss doors of Skyward Sword of course, but also because Manic needs some reason to go looting everything else instead of just picking the lock and trying to take on the bosses too soon.


	9. Coincidence and Conundrum

Gentari was not with Festari when we returned to the Abbey, and naturally his first response was of excitement – particularly when I showed him the Earth element.

"You retrieved that from the fiend-infested shrine?" he exclaimed excitedly. "Astonishing! Humans are such amazing creatures. The Elder is sure to be impressed as well."

"Speaking of him," Ezlo said while I put away the Element again. "Where might we find him?"

"His house lies in the north-east corner of our village. I would pay him a visit before you leave as he said he planned to do some extensive research on the Picori Blade and the elements to infuse them."

"Next stop, Gentari's house then," I said. "And then, who knows where?"

"Gentari?" Ezlo suggested.

"Well, of course him, it's just what you say at times like this."

"Really? Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You really want to know?"

Ezlo gave one of his long suffering sighs, much to the amusement of Festari. He was forever using them to make it known how exasperating I got sometimes, but he _did_ need me.

Gentari was poring over a large tome – though in actuality, it would have fit in the palm of my hand, had I been ordinarily sized. He glanced up once when the two of us entered, returning almost immediately to his study – but paused again when I set the Earth Element on the table with a clink.

He stared at it for a few moments, then gravely nodded and said, "For someone who seems so young, you have much courage, young man."

"It comes from my exciting youth," I told him with aplomb.

"No one can doubt _that_ at least," Ezlo muttered. "Do you happen to know where out next destination should be, revered Elder?"

"Mount Crenel, north-west of Hyrule town," he replied. "The Mountain Minish live there, skilled metalworkers until the hand of the master smith Melari. Not only will he of all people be able to reforge the broken Picori sword, but you will also need to speak to him in order to gain access to the human mines nearby, in which you will find the Fire Element."

"Convenient," I noted. "Someone seems to be going out of their way to be helpful. I don't suppose you happen to know why these two Elements were placed where they are – or when?"

Gentari frowned, quickly returning to the tome and flicking back several pages, then forward, then to the index and back someplace else. All the while he looked increasingly baffled.

"Now that you mention it... no... I don't know. It seems there's no record of anything of the sort."

Anyone else thinking what I'm thinking? With the exception again of Silver, who we know put the Fused Shadows in place for Tails, I rather suspect the various rewards for completing each dungeon only exist there _after_ each Hero is set on their course, and history is just slightly altered to accommodate them. Link might be good at hiding it, but I'm better.

We nevertheless thanked Gentari for his time and assistance before we left through a side door he insisted we use, following us so he could have a friendly passing bird take a message to Melari in advance so he'd be expecting us, then returning to his studies to try and figure out why no one knew Link had been cheating.

Got you that time, didn't I Link? If you read this I'm sure if you didn't already knew you'll be astonished as just how easy I can see through you, and I'm sure you'll find that very offensive – but then, you did trick me into this, so it's your own fault.

Another Minish in a small mushroom house came out and after a few excited moments pompously told us he was an inventor, and while he hadn't invented bombs, he had invented those strange bags Silver and Tails have which only ever _seem_ to have one bomb in, and light them up automatically when removed. I got given the prototype because the little fellow, who never did give me his name, thought I'd need them.

Once he'd gone back into the mushroom I made use of a nearby tree-stump portal to return to my normal size, closely followed by a tiny muffled explosion from inside the inventor's mushroom. I rather prudently thought it might be an idea to find somewhere else to be before he blew himself up.

I was in a different part of the Minish woods now, but it was a part that had only one route, leading from the back of the Elder's house out on to a southern part of what was supposedly Hyrule Field – but since there were trees and everything all over the place getting in the way, you can't really call it a field.

Aside from using the newly acquired bombs to blow up the last of the debris Vaati had spread around, the journey back to Southern Hyrule Field and from there the town itself wasn't really eventful. I even ignored most of the monsters on the way, since I noticed that some of them had managed to come back from the dead since I'd passed through earlier. Since they weren't going to stay dead, and they didn't have anything worth stealing, I didn't bother with them.

The guards at the gate evidently recognised me, because aside from a cursory glance as I approached, they once again did their brilliant performance of standing still while looking as bored as anyone can possibly be. I dread to think how badly they wanted a job that they even wanted to do that. Still, getting paid to do nothing is _almost_ as good as just stealing what you want, so in a way you could say it's theft too – you aren't actually doing anything, after all.

The encounter also told me that though the excitement of the carnival was gone by now and the town much quieter, I wasn't likely to hear one of my other common names, such as 'Stop, thief', 'that's him' or the old favourite the world over, 'Don't let him get away!'

My visit here was simply because it was on the way, and as I quickly learned, the builders who had blocked the way into town earlier were now busy hard at work in various other areas, so I had little choice but to pass through. Since it was far quieter this time, I didn't indulge in my usual past time – except once at the store where I spotted a very nice boomerang that I could see uses for, priced at only three-hundred rupees. Even if I had wanted to get it the proper way, I didn't have enough, so I pretended to browse the nearby wares until the shopkeeper's attention was tied up with other customers buying more ordinary goods, then it 'happened' to find its way off the shelf and out of sight. I bought us both a quick snack so I didn't seem suspicious just wandering in and then out again without getting anything, and as far as I could tell, no one was the wiser.

"I don't believe you just did that," Ezlo muttered.

"Well shut up then, or you'll get us caught," I told him in kind. "You never talk about what you do until after you're certain no one will notice. Not being noticed is a big part of things, Ezlo. People think we sneak around and tiptoe and only work at night, but we can work in broad daylight and very effectively if we take the time to make ourselves less remarkable."

"He'll notice eventually, you know," he told me. "That was the only one there."

"Oh, sure. He might even suspect me. But, he won't have anything to go on. After all, I'm an honest, paying customer," I told him, pulling out my favourite innocent act for such situations. "What on earth would I want to steal it for? I've got money, if I want something I buy it. Stealing is a crime, you know."

"Let me guess," he said, clearly not convinced by the act. "You've used that before too?"

"Many times, Ezlo, many times. It's always so much fun watching people go from suspicion to apology – all over a few simple words. It's even more fun watching their faces fall when they think they've got me, only to watch me easily lie my way out of it."

"You're a bad person, Manic," he accused.

"I know," I replied smugly.

There was one moment of concern as I left by the east gate. The guard recognised me, probably because the King had let it be known what I was up to or something.

As I passed he caught my arm and said, "Hey! You in a hurry?"

"Nothing I can't put off," I replied cheerfully, concealing my annoyance. Here I am on a mission to save the world – or at least Princess Zelda – and he's getting in the way! So what if time was on my side for now. "What's the problem?"

"You don't have any relatives in the area, do you?"

"Me? Don't be silly, I'm the only hedgehog around!"

"I think you're wrong. There was another one who passed through just a few minutes ago. He looked almost exactly like you – except he was wearing black, not green. We tried to apprehend him, since it's dangerous out this way, but he just shoved us out the way."

I'm sure regular Heroes will know exactly what happened there. As it was though, I had no idea what was going on. Link had pretty much confirmed that I was the only nonhuman here besides the monsters and the Minish.

"Did you see which way he went from here?" I asked, frowning.

"Into Trilby Highlands – the western part of Hyrule Field – then I'm sure I saw him heading for Mount Crenel."

"What a coincidence," I remarked blandly. "That happens to be right where I'm going. Thanks for letting me know about this – I'll handle it from here."

As astonishing as it must sound coming from me, I gave him a few rupees for his trouble. The reason is quite simple – someone who's generous _obviously_ has enough to spare, so couldn't _possibly_ have any reason to steal something. A little reputation building never hurt.

Ezlo warned me of a creature called a Trilby, a fox like creature with a short blade that charged as soon as it saw me. These things infested this area and were therefore the source of the region's name.

They were however unprepared for me. I stood defiantly in its path, which unnerved it, then two quick movements sent it's sword flying skyward. It watched the soaring blade in surprise, then looked down at my blade now sticking out of its chest. To top it all off, its own blade descended then and embedded itself in the back of its head with a crunch, and then it vanished in the manner of all defeated monsters.

"If that's the best Hyrule has to offer, I'm severely underestimating the competition," I remarked afterwards. "They all seem too easy to get rid of."

"I don't imagine that'll hold true for long," Ezlo replied absently, looking lost in thought.

"Still worrying about what he said back there?"

"Who wouldn't? You didn't lie to him did you?"

"No, I really didn't that time. I've got it on good authority I'm the only one like me here. There shouldn't be anyone like that, and that bothers me. But whoever he is, he's heading the same way as us, so we'll catch up with him and find out who this imposter is and what he's up to. I doubt he's any match for me."

"Don't get overconfident, Manic. He might be working for Vaati – or for all we know, he could be Vaati in disguise."

Ezlo's concerns there of course were completely unfounded.


	10. Giving Chase

Mount Crenel was probably what later became Death Mountain, though right now it was just a great mountain and there was little volcanic activity. Pools of steaming water dotted the rocky, craggy peak and vines formed natural ladders reaching up as they used any rock as a foothold.

Waiting for me at the top of the first trio of vines was the figure the guard had warned me about. Absolutely identical to me but for two things – his cap was just a cap unlike Ezlo acting as mine, and like the guard had told me, his tunic was black rather than green. Otherwise, we could have been twins.

"Is it my imagination, or does he look too much like you?" Ezlo murmured while the two of us stood watching each other. If he _was_ me, he knew everything I did – and knew that the moment one of us made a move, the other would also. If he _wasn't_ on the other hand, he was in for a bad time.

"It's not just you," I replied quietly. "Watch him, Ezlo. I get the feeling he's going to try something."

Our imposter grinned slightly, then made the first move, turning and running. I quickly looked over the vines and rocks and leapt up a vine after him, emerging behind but in pursuit on the second rocky crag.

There were spider-like creatures here Ezlo quickly identified as Tektites, creatures that had left sticky webs hanging between rocks and scrubby and usually dead trees. Mostly I ignored them in my pursuit of the imposter, who darted around a corner ahead and into a cave entrance that someone had actually made, not a natural one.

I paused briefly at the threshold, listening intently in case he was lying in wait – a common trick when I'm the one running is to hide behind a door, wait for the pursuit to run past, then dart back out again before they realize they've been had.

The imposter didn't do that however, as footsteps inside told me he was deeper in.

"Sloppy," I remarked critically, tugging another mushroom back to cross a pit. "If you can make your pursuers lose sight of you, you want to avoid making sounds that'll lead them to you."

"In the circumstances, I think that sentiment is a little misplaced," Ezlo remarked. I landed on the other side, rolling back to my feet and continuing up a set of nearby stairs into a higher gallery. Several smashed pots left a trail of destruction, and a few small red creatures with metal masks on them were poking about. One ran for me, but it didn't seem to be able to change direction once it started, so was easily ignored.

A second cave mouth led us back out into the sunlight, the only way he could have gone – but he wasn't there. The rocks left only one way I could go without scrambling over them, leading to a whirling vortex of air right in front of a ledge overlooking the entrance of the cave.

Opposite me was another ledge and another vortex – along with the other hedgehog, who appeared to have a parachute of some kind in his hands. He turned, smirked at me again, then darted off.

"So that's why he didn't care about the trail," I said, staring after him. "He knew we couldn't follow him past here."

"Not so quick, Manic," Ezlo said thoughtfully. "I've got an idea. Grab hold of my edges and run into that vortex."

"If I do that, I'll fall."

"Trust me," he told me. I _hate_ it when people tell me that.

I tried it though, and was amazed that when I hit the vortex, the hollow inside of Ezlo ballooned out with air and my momentum carried us easily over the gap, the second vortex lifting us up high enough to land on the edge.

"What an amazing thing," I remarked, let Ezlo get comfortable again, then set off to find my quarry. I didn't hurry yet – hurrying would have been more noticeable, and if I could sneak up on him I'd cut down his lead.

He wasn't anywhere visible just yet, but that didn't mean he wasn't in the area, and unless he wanted to scale one of the rough walls he had nowhere to run. I went on more warily now, listening out for any sounds that would give him way.

"Manic, there!" Ezlo exclaimed, leaning forward to point. A vine was quickly growing up a wall – along with a figure in a black tunic scaling it. He didn't seem to be aware of me just yet, so I quickly checked the terrain between me and him – rough, and with several more Tektite webs, but passable.

Putting my sometimes shady past to good use I scrambled toward him, making only slightly less sound than an actual spider – at most a few tiny rocks clattering, but the sounds of those were lost to the crunching of larger rocks that seemed to be falling from further ahead.

I quickly ducked behind a tree when I saw him reach the top and pause, apparently breathing hard. I made sure I was as well concealed as you can be when you're wearing green on a sun-blasted yellow rock mountain as I watched.

After a few moments he turned to survey the lower part of Mount Crenel, perhaps looking for me. Whatever he was looking for, he didn't find it and he sauntered much more casually back away from the precipice of that upper crag.

I waited a few moments in case he'd been sneaky enough to double back in an attempt to catch me out, then resumed my pursuit, avoiding several more Tektites and slashing away a web that got in my way, once again scaling this new vine while trying to avoid making it rustle too much.

Again I paused, listening before I would come into view of anything waiting up there. Hard breaths, as if someone had been running themselves hard and was catching their breath. Warily I peeked up, hoping that the green vine would make it easier to make whoever it was look past me.

Sat on a rock off to one side was the imposter, leaning back against the rough wall behind him, his eyes closed, but one hand closed around the hilt of his sword. Occasionally, an ear twitched as if listening.

Moving slowly to avoid unnecessary sound I came up over the edge and crept closer on silent feet, gesturing to Ezlo to stay silent. A sudden inspiration came to me, and I had to fight the urge to laugh out loud.

Rather than confront him just yet, I took a rock beside him, waited a few moments to see what he'd do, then said, "Come here often?"

He started back from that so violently he fell off the rock he'd perched on, giving a startled exclamation as he scrabbled for the sword he'd dropped, trying to get hold of himself after that shock.

"You _jerk_!" he accused me – even sounding like me. "How did you cross that ledge down there?"

"Oh, I found a way," I answered evasively. "Question is, who're you?"

He watched me instead of answering, his sword still held ready, and far more competently than I would have at the time. I was still perched on that rock, without even a weapon drawn, just watching him. He must have taken that as a cue to react, because he sheathed his sword, turned and bolted again, darting into a narrow crack between two higher ledges and out of sight.

I followed again, crossing a bridge someone had put over a pit just inside that crack and then into yet another cavern, hearing the sounds of pottery being smashed. Once inside I saw he'd left me another trail to pick through.

Like the last one it led up a level and back outside to another pair of ledges that overlooked each other, each of which with another air vortex beside. He was already in the air, using his parachute to catch the air and cross. He landed, glanced back, and instead of running he waited instead.

"What's wrong, Manic?" he called over. "Afraid I'll steal your secrets?"

"What about you?" I called back. "Aren't you going to do something about that Tektite eyeing you?"

"Oh, no," he laughed. "I'm not falling for that one."

I didn't say anything, watching as the Tektite bounced up nearby and caused a few small rocks to move. He muttered something under his breath and turned to fight it, while I quickly had Ezlo help me cross, managing to land just before the imposter finished dealing with the Tektite.

He turned back, about to say something, then saw me and leapt back in surprise again. He muttered something else, then took off.

"Why are we following him, Manic?" Ezlo asked as I gave chase again. "Besides to find out who he is?"

"For the fun of it? He's going the same way we probably do, Ezlo. As long as that holds true, I'm going to keep with it."

My imposter seemed to be getting desperate far too quickly now, even taking the risk of scrambling up one of the walls. After seeing him run this far, I was starting to get the idea that he had at least some of the skills I did, but not on the same level as me. I climbed that same wall and closed the gap between us quite a bit.

At the top he didn't stop, bolting as he made his way past a set of stairs that had been hewed out of the rock face, carrying on to a ledge which he showed no hesitation in dropping down. I glanced at a small sign beside the steps, which told me the Crenel Mines were up there, and paused. That _was_ my destination after all.

Rather reluctantly I gave up my fun and headed up to have a look around, but it turned out to be a false alarm – there had once been a route here to the mines, but a rock slide had destroyed it, and I was forced to head back down and follow the path my imposter had taken after all. By now he'd probably managed to make good his escape, so I didn't bother to hurry.

There were only two ways he could have gone from there. Up, by climbing a rock face that showed signs of being climbed before, or down. I chose up, since I wanted the mines, and then found I had to dodge frequent rocks that bounded down that rough face. Getting one of those to the face was going to hurt – a lot.

Nimbleness counts for something however and I made it to the top without a single rock catching me, though there'd been a few near misses and once point where I almost lost my grip entirely – which would have been... inconvenient.

This took me to the top of Mount Crenel, and the view from there was absolutely breathtaking. I could see most of Hyrule from here. The Castle and Town looked almost like a model, with the people in them little more than tiny figures.

I had another view point much later on that was even better, but the memory of that view is something no one could ever forget. It did however mean that I could go no higher, and that there had to be another route to reach the mines from here.

There was a set of steps to one side that led back down, but rocks made it impossible to go anywhere from there, so I discounted it, leaving my only option a mushroom that would catapult me over a rather large gap, over which there was a fairly large heat-haze. I rather suspected I didn't want to end up down there.

I don't like those mushrooms anyway, but it was my only choice to progress, so I used it to fling myself over – and typically, right into a rock. Several rocks, actually.

There was a puzzle here that looked at a glance like I'd have to use a large stone with a hole in the top and side – a portal, obviously – to shrink, pass over to the other side and restore my size, then push one stone into place to fill in a gap, then bring another one past there to this side to fill in another.

Since I'm more sensible than that, I just ignored it and figured that since I could see over it all, I could also climb over it all to the ladder sticking out of a hole. That led me into another cave, and a familiar face, leaning back on one wall instead of perched on a rock this time, and aware of me too.

"Don't you _ever_ give up?" he sighed in exasperation.

"Would you?" I asked him. "You look like me almost to the detail. That's suspicious enough in itself, you know."

"It certainly wasn't _my_ idea," he told me. "Alright, if it'll make you leave me alone, I give in. I don't have a name – not one of my own, anyway. Technically, I'm you. You're the local Hero, so I look like you, only different enough for you to tell the difference."

"You really expect me to believe that?"

"Believe it or not, I don't care. Right now I just want a rest. You ran me pretty hard. All I was trying to do was make sure you went the right way."

"Then you work for Link?" I asked, ignoring the fact that Ezlo had no idea who Link was.

"Link? Don't be stupid. I don't work for anyone. I'm not against you, Manic – but I'm not with you either. I'm helping you this time because I thought you'd need it, but next time we meet..." he trailed off and shrugged. "Who knows? I'll decide when we meet. I've already pushed the blocks out the way ahead and even got rid of the monsters for you so you won't have any trouble getting to the mines."

"Why not come with me?"

"Manic," Ezlo said in a pained tone. "I can't handle two. I can just about handle you when we use those portals, someone else is completely out of the question."

"That, and I don't like keeping company with Heroes for long. You're all too self-righteous for my liking. See you around, Manic, Ezlo. Don't get yourselves killed now," he told us, then took the ladder back up outside.


	11. Mines and Minecarts

Through the caves my dark counterpart had already cleared for me lay another portal, along with a rocky outcropping that showed signs of being artificial – the local Minish village, I presumed. Nearby was a large stone portal, the insides using large green crystals that were surprisingly bouncy, instead of the mushrooms common in forest portals.

Once shrunk I made my way over to the cavernous tunnel that was actually so tiny I'd barely seen it before. It took me far longer than it had looked before simply because of my size. Once inside the tunnel I heard the sounds of a smithy coming from the far end.

Several more Mulldozers were here, but since these ones seemed content to ignore me, I responded in kind and entered Melari's Mines – a place that a Goron might have felt at home with I'd say now I've heard what Goron City looked like.

The Mines were arranged in tiers just like the Goron City, except these were squared off like an inverted Mayan pyramid. Side chambers had been carved out of the rocks to make bedrooms, small workshops, a fair sized kitchen and several storerooms.

No, I didn't steal anything. I don't have any idea what to do with raw metal ores. It's what the ores are made into later I want. Going to the source might sometimes be a good thing, but not in this case.

I listened in to the echoing conversations as I descended, finding that there were only actually eight Minish here who actually worked the metals – the rest mined them. These were Melari and his seven apprentices, and naturally I'd find Melari himself in the forge right at the bottom, along with the best two of his apprentices – and as coincidence had it, they were making swords.

Gentari's message had evidently reached Melari long before I had. He was big even for a Minish, but then being a smith will do that to anyone I've noticed. Makes them bad people to steal from, since if they catch you they can really make you hurt. Believe me, I made that mistake once.

"Green clothes?" he said questioningly even as I descended the last steps to his forge. "And an odd hat?"

"Odd?" Ezlo demanded indignantly.

"Oh hush," I told him. "Gentari told you who we are then."

"I got told who _you_ are," he corrected. "Young Manic, on a quest to reforge the sacred sword so you can break a curse."

"Surely he mentioned me," Ezlo put in.

"Just an odd hat," Melari repeated with a shrug – but also with a twinkle in his eye that suggested the sly Minish was doing it on purpose. "Probably more too, but I had all this work to do."

"His name's Ezlo," I told Melari. "And he's trying to keep me out of trouble on my travels."

"Without much success, either," Ezlo muttered.

Melari chuckled, then moved aside and took a finished sword off the workbench. "Lay out the old blade on here then, Manic," he told me. "I'll be needing to work on it so's you can take it an re-infuse it with the four elements. No doubt you're already of a mind to go into the Human mines nearby to get the next one."

"Amazing," I said with feigned astonishment, laying out the broken blade for him. "How do you do it? It's like you read my mind."

Melari however ignored what I'd said, already examining the blade.

"Looks like a straight-up repair job to me," one of the two apprentices noted.

"Not so fast," Melari told him reprovingly. "This wasn't made from just any metal you know. Are you still here Manic? I'd thought you'd be off on your way by now. You've got all that adventuring to do, saving princesses and such."

"Right on my way now," I replied, trying not to laugh. Melari concealed a great deal behind his bluff manner, among them a brilliant sense of humour that had clearly bothered Ezlo.

"Hat, indeed!" he muttered once we were outside. "Am I really odd, Manic?"

"Well, you have to admit it's not exactly the normal shape for a living creature," I said. "And I don't even remember the last time I saw a hat with a beak."

Ezlo glared at me, then went back to muttering to himself.

"Was it something I said?" I asked innocently. He chose not to reply.

After another long trek over what wasn't really a very long distance, I used a second stone portal to return to my usual size and there ahead of me I saw the source of the heat-haze I'd seen before. The rocks surrounding the entrance to the human mines were partly liquefied, even lava-like. This was going to be hot and hard work, I realized immediately.

The human mines were very simple in their design. Mostly for structural stability, the miners had kept every open area either square, rectangular or made up of corridors, all of them heavily supported along the walls with wooden supports that in some parts of the place were heavily charred. In the first room the miners had also left three pillars of rock supporting the ceiling, each of which had chunks missing in the sides where they'd carved out metals or other valuables.

The only sources of light came from the torches lining the supports – torches that looked suspiciously fresh, and very strangely bright. Once again, Link is somewhat obvious.

The doorways, even the entrance itself, were if possible even more heavily supported than anywhere else, and were the only places stone had been used. I headed through the northern doorway first, only to find that it was completely blocked off there and there was no progress I could make, forcing me to go east.

In there, there were three things that I can only describe as ambulatory bombs. They had fuses, red gashes for eyes, and tiny feet. I swiped at one that got too close and it started flashing red, the fuse running down as it ran around the room instead of walking, then when the fuse ran out it detonated – blowing up another of them nearby.

While the third one was away from me, I checked the nearby pots only to find they just contained bombs in, which I didn't need for now. There was however nowhere I could go from here unless defeating that bomb-creature did something – until I spotted a wall where the supports had crumbled and the rocks had fallen in.

That did not exactly fill me with confidence. I manoeuvred the bomb creature into detonating beside the fallen rocks, then hid behind the pots until the crashing rumble and dust clouds had subsided.

More of the ceiling had fallen in, letting sunlight in from the outside, but it was now passable at least.

"If that happens anywhere else, I'm liable to bring this entire place down on top of us," I muttered in complaint.

"Why didn't you just ask me?" Ezlo asked. "I could have done something."

"Oh really? Like what?" I asked. As far as he knew, I didn't know he was a Minish sorcerer.

"Uh... well..." he broke off. "Well, I just could have, alright?" he snapped irritably.

In the next area were two large turtles with large, spiny shells to them. There was a second doorway here, but it was blocked off with more charred wood.

"Don't suppose you'd care to do something about those things?" I asked Ezlo. "My sword will just bounce off."

"They'll charge for you when they see you," he said after examining them a moment. "Get out your shield and brace yourself for the impact. They'll bounce off and probably roll on to their backs, so you can attack their vulnerable undersides."

"Probably?"

"Sometimes they don't bounce off the way we'd want them to," he shrugged. "If you have a better idea..."

I did, as it happened. I still used the shield, but rather than making them bounce off it I held it flat, waited for them to get close, then brought it up underneath the startled beasts, sending them flying above me. Once bounced back down on its back, the other ended up with the spikes embedded in a wooden support. Since they can't flip themselves back so easily, neither of them survived that encounter, the door opened, and a large chest appeared containing a part of the boss door's lock.

Beyond there was the other side of the blocked off room I'd been to before. There was a very suspicious lone rupee laying almost invitingly on the floor, but I also spotted a tiny yellow tendril extending from it into the ground, just the right colour to blend in. A trap, and not one I was going to take.

It was ignored, and instead I took the somewhat rickety stairs heading downwards. Down here, a piece of track for carts passed overhead, missing one or two of its supports but still held up for now at least. The area above where it linked to appeared to connect to other areas, but from my lower vantage what they were wasn't yet known.

Another walking bomb was here, and in treating it like I had the spike turtles I found that if it hit a shield, it stopped moving entirely – but still blew up. A better way to put them to good use and save my bombs.

A short tunnel and another walking bomb later and I found the stairs leading up to the upper part of this floor. A blocked off door along the track prevented me from following the tracks, at least until I found a cart I could use, and more rocks had fallen here that limited where I could go. For ow I followed the tracks toward the part I'd seen earlier.

That proved to be impossible, as these were separate tracks. They turned before more rocks, and scraped ground told me that a section here was designed to turn, along with another part ahead on a disconnected bit of track. That track stretched back in either direction, only curving out to meet this one if they were in the right place. No amount of pushing or shoving could move them however, so I left them alone.

The eastern door of these second tracks had already been removed, destroyed or otherwise taken out of the way, again marking the only way for me to progress. In the area beyond the tracks came to an end with a buffer stop – and a cart. There was also a locked door here that I guessed would lead to the tracks I'd first seen, but without a key to keep Ezlo happy...

Ezlo seemed distracted though, examining the cart, so I gave in and headed closer for him.

"This must be what the humans used to get around in here," he observed.

"You don't say?"

"Stop that and hop in. It's not like it'll move all that fast, so there's nothing to be afraid of at all."

Oh, Ezlo. If only he'd known.

I can only assume the humans had used at least a little magic, even if it's just technology so advanced it looks like magic, because as soon as I got in it set off at almost break-neck speed, hurtling down the tracks and round the corners so quick you could have mistaken it for a roller-coaster ride.

Naturally I was laughing merrily when it stopped in a small room, hitting the buffer stops to throw us out. Not even being thrown into the wall could stop me laughing, even less when I saw Ezlo's pained expression.

"What's wrong, Ezlo?" I asked him innocently.

"Sweet jumping jellyfish, that was awful," he groaned, then saw my expression. "Hey, what're you smiling about? Don't tell me you actually enjoyed that."

"You mean you didn't? I thought everyone loved that sort of thing."

"Oh, gods. Maybe we should just keep to our feet. Your feet, I mean," he corrected.

"And miss all the fun, and the areas we'd only be able to get to by them?"

Ezlo gave me a look, then sighed. "Why did I agree to do this? Why me?"


	12. A Touch of Magic

While Ezlo sulked about the roller-coaster cart ride, I carried on, passing down a corridor that was shored up several times with stone doorways. Several more walking bombs appeared in each section, no issue to deal with now.

At the part that was currently the end there was another rock-fall blocking my way, along with a charred door that refused to budge or even let me carve a piece out of it with my sword. I didn't try that too much, since it'd dull the edge, but I'm sure wood like that shouldn't be practically indestructible.

I made use of one of the walking bombs to clear the rubble, waiting for the dust and debris to clear. Rocks fell again, but this time there was no sunlight and the newly excavated passageway remained clear and apparently stable.

It led us into a room with more of the red creatures with metal helmets on. The Gust Jar pulled those off, making them relatively harmless, and defeating them caused a portal to appear in a new design – a squared off slab of grey rock that had metal rungs around the exits and the hole in the top. Inside it still used the bouncy green crystals the ones outside had, however.

While it naturally took me far longer to get around the otherwise short distances, I nevertheless made the trek to a small hole in the northern part of the east wall, something I'd spotted only just before Ezlo shrunk us down to Minish size.

That led to another corridor, this one with north and eastbound doors, and also two more spike turtles. From my smaller perspective these things were giants, and if they caught me there was no way I was getting up from that – but I was also so small that they appeared not to be able to notice me. It was nervous all the same, running past them and hoping they wouldn't step on me or something.

I headed north first, only to have to stop. A small hole in the ground, just big enough that in my normal size I'd be able to fit in and not appear above ground level, was a massive pit to me now, barring me access. I could however see the room clearly – some mine tracks ended here, and laying upturned on them was another cart. In the corners were some form of bladed trap, and scrape marks on the floor suggested that they animated and would go for anyone who triggered them.

That meant I had to head east, where more mine tracks terminated but not cart was on them. Another small hole led me further east, where the tracks continued. Past the tracks was another collapsed section I could bomb if I had my normal size, but I was more concerned with the bats, not normally a threat but definitely something to watch out for right now. I waited in the relative safety of the hole until I spotted a second hole leading southwards to the corridor I'd come down before, then when I had the chance I ran for it.

Now I was back in the room I'd got off the mine cart, having entered through a hole I hadn't seen before, and I spotted another one directly opposite that would keep me moving. It grew noticeably hotter as I went down that tunnel and was sweating profusely by the time I emerged. The heat here had partly coalesced into a misty kind of fog that restricted my view and made everything indistinct.

After a few minutes to explore warily, I found I was on an upper ledge overlooking a lower area, part of which was burning merrily. There was a large chest here that I had no hope of opening unless I found a portal, and there was no way I was taking the stairs while this small. Fortunately off to one side I found a tiny ladder that was just right for me, a bit burnt, but enough to get me down to the burning floor and pick my way through, trying to find where I had to go next. Eventually I found it, a portal I had missed before because it was almost completely surrounded with fire.

My size restored I could see slightly better, and realized just how close I was to a pit of bubbling lava. I carefully picked my way through the fire to get back to the chest first, and so I could cast a new eye out over the area now I could see further.

The big blue chest I'd seen before had the map in, and once again I spent a few moments committing it to memory. Being able to do that is a vital skill for someone like me, because you never know when you might have to run – and not have the chance to pause and take out the map to figure out where you are or where you're going. That's the sort of thing that will only get you caught, which is of course, rather undesirable.

Since there was no way back without shrinking again, and I'd already exhausted the options there, the only way I could go was to cross the lava. There were rocky platforms forming a bridge to cross it, but they were cracked and glowed hot as they floated on the surface of the molten magma. There was however nothing else for it, so I ran across to a small area just above the lava line where a chest gave me yet more rupees.

The platforms I'd just crossed had sunk into the lava and almost vanished, but after a time they sluggishly rose back out, hissing and cooling with little popping sounds. While I waited for them to cool I triggered a concealed switch, cleverly made to blend in with the floor this time, but still visible to my sharp eye. Something out of sight clunked open, and after I'd crossed more platforms and quickly shoved some obstructing pots into lava, I found out it had only been the door allowing me to carry on.

I was not particularly happy to find much of the next room under yet more lava, and my only means of crossing it a single platform that moved almost painfully slowly through the lava. I had little choice but to trust I had time enough before it sank to get off, and made the most of it by taking a chance and leaping the gap between where I started and how far it had moved away, hoping my sudden weight wouldn't sink it. Fortunately lava is much thicker than water.

On the other side there were some armoured... I don't even know. Ezlo called them Rollobites, and also told me I'd have better luck making friends with Vaati than trying to actually kill them, since they'd just crawl out of lava.

They curled up when struck however, and that made them useful for filling in the various dips in the floor, allowing me to access another chest of rupees and the steps leading further up. Oddly, they seemed to have trouble figuring out how to get out of the holes I'd put them in, and the one left afterwards stopped at the bottom of the stairs and just stared at them as if it had never seen them before. Strange beasts.

There was another small pit up here, and since I wasn't going to convince the Rollobite to figure out the stairs, I just ignored it – for now. Some rockfall, probably caused by my earlier bombings, had blocked off a part of the room. From my higher vantage though I spotted a narrow spit of land I could reach by using the air vortex that was also nearby. It'd be cutting it fine, but what's life without a few risks?

I made it – just – and after taking some more steps I found a chest on a pedestal that was annoyingly sturdy and refused any attempts to tip it over. Instead, I blew up the rockfall again to re-open the way to where I'd started and sunk the pedestal into the pit – a suspiciously perfect fit. It got me the silver key in the chest, but that didn't help with the door to the north which was still closed, refused to open, and had no lock.

"Well now what are we supposed to do?" Ezlo demanded. "We can't go ahead from here. Wasn't there a locked door back a ways?"

"Yeah, I remember it," I said absently, re-searching the area with a more critical eye. I had a feeling I was missing something.

"Why are you still poking around here then?"

"Wait and see," I told him. I eventually found what I was looking for – hidden under a rock that was hollow, and so hadn't triggered the switch concealed beneath. The door clunked open, taking us back to the first corridor, not far from where the mine cart had deposited us. It was a convenient short-cut that led us back to the door he was on about.

"How did you know that was there?" Ezlo asked, not so snappily now we were away from the heat of the lava.

"Ezlo, you really need me to tell you again?" I said plaintively. "I've gone into mansions that had traps concealed all over the place, and I never once triggered one of them. I've learned if something doesn't feel right to me, it's probably because it isn't."

"Maybe your... talents aren't so bad after all," he said grudgingly. "Don't think that means I approve of them though."

"I'll change your mind by the time I'm done Ezlo," I laughed. "I'll bet every rupee I'll have by then."

"That'll clean you out," he warned.

"So? I can steal more, remember?"

Once again, he gave up trying to reason with me, though that might have been because that was when I took the cart back again. He definitely didn't look like he enjoyed it as much as I did, but he had insisted on coming along.

The door led us to the area where I'd first come down to this floor, and the part with the tracks crossing above the entrance. They were the only way to progress, and as stable as they looked, I still crossed with some caution. I did not particularly feel like having to come all the way back again if I fell.

The tracks didn't lead anywhere though, except to a rather rusty switch. It refused to budge until I gave it a little oil from a can I always keep around, though usually it's for silencing creaky doors. You have no idea how embarrassing it is to have bypassed everything, only to have a door creak and give you away.

It still squealed and groaned in protest until I got it to clunk into the opposing position, and something else nearby creaked and clunked with a more metallic sound. When I headed back to check the tracks, what I suspected had been the source, I found two sections had twisted around, and one turn now faced the other way. If I took the cart now, instead of following the original route I'd take the upper one instead.

Ezlo, of course, hated every moment of it.

The wild ride this time took us to a room where I'd only been so far as a Minish. I spotted the hole through which I'd headed southwards, and recalled that right next door were the spike turtles – which were more easily dealt with. After that I headed north again, poking my head out briefly only to draw it back with a startled remark as the two blade traps shot for me.

Once they had clinked together and started to draw slowly back again, I quickly leapt the hole so I wouldn't trigger them again. There was no way I was going to turn over the heavy mine cart, and the door to the north was also another of those indestructible wooden doors, leaving my only open to cross the tracks on a bridge. Over a lava pit. With many supports charred and missing. And several bats just hanging, lying in wait.

I _did_ make it over, watching the bats warily and keeping my sword ready to go for them if they got close. Despite appearances, the bridge felt stable, so as long as I didn't lose my footing, I was relatively safe, at least.

A couple of red ChuChus met me on the other side, and after the meeting with the apparently giant Green one back in Deepwood Shrine, I hit them in such a way they went flying into the lava. I just wanted to be sure they wouldn't annoy me again.

I found the other side of the rock-fall I'd noticed earlier, and once again blasted it away. I didn't really see the point to that until between the tracks, just out of sight of anyone with a Minish's eye view, was another piece of the Boss door's lock. If I hadn't checked the area, I'd have kicked myself.

An access door let us follow the tracks northwards, though they were separated off from this area. I could see where they ended though, and I could see another chest on a pedestal, and even the pit I'd need to use – but the sturdy metal bars kept me at arms length from the lot, and my only choice was to leap down into a lower area that had no way back up from it – just yet another wooden door with no lock, no handle, no apparent trigger mechanism. Have you noticed I didn't like those doors yet? I thought I noticed you noticing.

As soon as I landed I was surrounded by ChuChus, but not red or green ones – these ones were purple, and as soon as I approached they hardened into a mass of very sharp spikes. Nimble as I am, several of them did catch me, though at most they only grazed me and tore the tunic somewhat.

"Bombs, Manic!" Ezlo cried. "Blow them up while they're rigid and it'll shatter them!"

"I could have done with that before," I muttered.

I made use of the fact that ChuChus are dumb and mindlessly hopped for me to roll bombs in amongst them and then steadily retreat until it was about to go off – then dart in to make them spike up. Some of them avoided the first blast, so I followed up with a second that finished them off, opened the door and made a large chest appear. Inside was a slender yellow cane with a hook on the end.

"I recognise that!" Ezlo exclaimed. "That's one of the five magic rods!"

"Which one, and what does it do?" I asked.

Ezlo spent several minutes examining it closely, then answered, "It looks like the work of the mage Pacci. If I remember correctly, he got a lot of bad word spread about him because his magic artefacts did rather basic and menial things. The Cane of Pacci doesn't have the kind of power the Cane of Byrna does nor the usefulness of the Cane of Somari, but it's still useful in it's way."

"The history lesson is fascinating, but what does it _do_ Ezlo?" I repeated.

"Well... I'm not sure exactly. I've never been able to confirm it. But I understand Mage Pacci wasn't the strongest person around – it's all that studying, you know – so he found moving things troublesome, and since his fellow mages made fun of him by wrecking his rooms, he made that so he could easily flip things back up the right way. Or flip them upside-down too, I suppose. Rumour also has it he used it to reach higher places somehow, but that might just be rumours."

"If nothing else, it'll be good for annoying other people a bit then," I sighed. "Took you long enough to tell me about it."

"It's a powerful magical artefact with a respectable history behind it!" Ezlo snapped.

"It was used to flip things over, Ezlo. I'd hardly call that a respectable history."

"If you were a mage of any renown..." he started, then broke off. "Lets just agree I'm more interested in those things and you're not, otherwise we'll be bickering for hours."


	13. Hot Work

Following our almost heated argument was a heated room, heated by a narrow line of lava that no sensible person would try to cross – unless they're a Goron, of course. Two more of the rather unstable looking platforms provided a bridge, but there was immediately a problem. The second of them had rocky spires sticking out of the top that would make it very tough to cross.

Since Pacci's rather simple magic wand had been left here for me and clearly I needed it to carry on, I waved it rather half-heartedly toward it, not really expecting anything to happen. There was probably some magic nonsense I was supposed to say or something like that.

Instead though a small ball of yellow light shot from the cane, impacted one of the spires, then the entire rock was lifted up, flipped over and set back down again – without any spikes. I had to wait for it to cool off of course, having been submerged in the lava, but seeing it started to make me understand why Ezlo had been so annoyed with me. It didn't matter what the object was, it'd flip it over. Size, weight, shape, they were all overlooked completely.

On the other side of the lava pit was a locked door, this time locked with a keyhole, and a small pit in the ground. A gap in the ledge above suggested I could get up there – or back down – and Ezlo had made mention of this cane's supposed power to gain height. Waving it at the wall did nothing, but waving it at the hole caused it to be filled with light.

I shared a look with Ezlo that told me even he wasn't sure what to make of this, so tried to jump into the hole, only to have the light bounce me back out again and up to the ledge.

"Think that confirms those rumours of yours," I told Ezlo. "That's going to be _very_ useful."

"Told you it was a powerful artefact," he replied just a bit too smugly. Time to rein him in a bit.

"By the way, Ezlo," I asked innocently. "How come you're an expert on these things?"

"I uh..." he faltered. "I did some research into them once. Purely out of curiosity. Not out of any desire to collect them or use their power, you understand."

"Shame – I was almost expecting you to say you'd been a sorcerer yourself."

Ezlo suddenly looked just a little bothered.

A switch up on this ledge opened the nearby door and also created the blue warp portal down below, though there wasn't anything I had to do outside for now that needed it. Maybe if it became easier to trek back to the entrance to reach this door again I'd use it, but for now I headed south again and back into the room with the upturned cart.

Again the Cane of Pacci did it's intended task, and again Ezlo absolutely refused to look as the cart took us hurtling down the tracks, this time taking us to the barred off area with the chest on a pedestal – a chest that, so conveniently, contained the key I needed for the locked door.

That door turned out to lead down another level, to a room that had more tracks in. The door here were of the sort that only the carts would open, so no luck would be had trying to get through them. In one corner of the room more blade traps protected a small hole I'd only be able to use as a Minish, perfect since without a cart on the end of the track here, I wasn't going any other way.

There was another route for the tracks to take and a switch that, after another liberal use of some oil, shifted them into place, but these would have made it needlessly difficult to cross the room once I'd used the nearby portal to shrink down.

It wasn't hard to figure out the timings of the traps – not as if I haven't done _that_ before too many times to count – and make a beeline for the hole, leading me westwards where the cart was laying on the other end of the tracks – what else – upside down.

Interestingly, the Cane didn't work on it. It looked as if it tried, but being Minish sized appeared to set an upper limit on it. I wasn't going to be flipping entire mountains with this, evidently. That meant I had to trek through a long maze of stone blocks, avoiding some red... things that actually ignored me. Ezlo calmly told me that if I'd been normal sized, blades would appear from the sides and they'd rush toward me.

That of course meant that as soon as I found the portal at the other end, I was obliged to trek all the way back through, this time with them trying to slice my feet off. They didn't move quite as quick as I expected them to, allowing me to set up little traps for them. The floor here was dusted with a fairly thick layer of dirt and dust, and while avoiding them I used that to create a thickly packed ramp that would take time to break down from the other side.

Then I lured them in, one by one, so they were trapped there.

"The lengths you go to sometimes are extraordinary," Ezlo commented. "There was no real need for it, and you could have simply ignored them and got all the way out, but you had to do that. Why, Manic?"

"Why not?" I replied impudently. He didn't answer.

I took the cart back a room, then heaved the switch again to send me south instead this time and took the cart that way instead. I shot through one room I saw only at a glance, though from the blurred view I got I suspected there were at least a few things I needed to do there, which immediately meant there had to be some way to reach them.

Where I ended up was another room (what else) that had more of the Rollobites in. At first glance, I had to make them curl up then throw them into a line of holes so I could reach a switch on a pedestal. That was most likely what would cause the line of metal posts to retract and allow me to carry on. This however, is me we're talking about. Not only had there been some considerable rock-fall in the area, perhaps even caused by my earlier bombings, but it conveniently left an easy way up to the switch that meant I had no need of all this. The switch needed yet more oil to make it work, but I had plenty and soon enough I was moving once again.

It got me up a set of steps and along a passage lined on one side with more iron bars that was the way into the previous room. At some point something had broken away some of the bars in two places, one that led to a chest and a few rocks I could push out the way, the other just straight down. No prizes for guessing which I took. It contained yet more rupees, in case you're wondering. They almost always did.

The Cane of Pacci and a convenient hole in the ground let me access a separate part of the ledge with another chest – see the previous one for what it contained – and then since I had nowhere else to go, I headed east.

More lava here, and with it another haze. I vaguely made out a large platform in the middle, but for the most part if I wanted to find out more about the room I'd have to explore. The Cane flipped a few more platforms floating in the lava, and in the course of using them to get around the room I found the Boss Door – which I left for the moment, as it looked like I was still missing a piece – and triggered the red portal.

I continued to follow them, circling the room anti-clockwise and flipping even more platforms to go the only way I could, eventually leading me northwards, where a rock fall had blocked off the way ahead, and it was thicker and heavier than the ones before. No bombings possible here.

The nearby stairs were clearer though, and after squeezing between two more fallen rocks I was on the other side. Not that it did me any good. I could go back down, and that was all. I poked about a bit, finding a chest protected by more spike traps that also had an air vortex nearby, and an idea was sparked.

A second hole in the ground provided a way up into an otherwise inaccessible area just beyond, and again the cane and a vortex got me up on the ledge that led to the one I'd seen before. With Ezlo's help it was a simple matter to float over the spike traps and loot the chest, rather depressingly containing more rupees.

I then had to escape the traps and do it all over again to reach a second ledge opposite, which was the way I was _actually_ supposed to go, leading me back to the lava room. Where another air vortex waited. I thought I could make out another one in the heat mist, but it was hard to tell for sure. I had to trust this wasn't a trap.

It wasn't, though. The heat of the lava itself caused hot air to rise, keeping us at a more or less steady height the whole time. If I needed to go down a bit, Ezlo shifted slightly to let a bit of air escape – clean thoughts there! As we hovered through the room we collected a huge blue rupee worth a whole hundred by itself, another area set on fire, a couple more raised platforms, and the last big chest containing the last piece of the boss door's lock.

Even though there were more parts to this lock, it didn't take me long to reassemble it, and since there'd been more parts and more of it visible before I'd done so I knew the inner workings of it way ahead of time. It takes some of the fun out of picking the lock, but I'm certainly not complaining.

What lay inside will I'm sure be familiar to at least one other Hero – a room filled with pots to stock up on any consumables – mostly bombs, since that was all I had at the time – and a hole in the floor that revealed, far below, a pit of lava surrounded by a narrow ring of land.

* * *

"You know, I'm starting to wonder if Link doesn't have a rather limited imagination," Tails observed, looking up from Shad's notes. "He does seem to repeat himself fairly often."

"You're assuming he's the one responsible for it all," Silver interjected. "I gather the Goddesses are involved too, else why would they have taken some of my kit from me after finishing up in Hyrule?"

"No, I think it's Link," Sonic told them. "When I was on Dragon Roost Island, there was a place there which was similar too. I didn't have to drop down to reach it, and there were wooden bridges stuck into the wall higher up, but it was still lava surrounded by land."

"That doesn't necessarily mean it is Link," Auru put in. "Any of the Goddesses could have done it."

"Right, but remember what he said to me?" Manic said. "He told me if he made things too easy, they complained at him. I reckon they're right, it's all on him."

Rusl leaned back in his chair, chuckling. "You know, I don't remember the last time I heard someone accuse a God of anything – let alone having a limited imagination. I imagine if he's paying attention he probably doesn't like you three right now."

"So what?" Manic shrugged. "We've done our jobs, and he knows how I feel about him. He left me no choice but to do what he wanted – so now I'm getting even."


	14. Dragon and Deception

The lava below provided us with a column of heated air rising up which Ezlo carefully used to get us down safely without ending up in the lava itself, steering us over to one edge of the surrounding land. In places the walls looked as if the humans who'd dug this mine had come here, but time and the lava had removed all but a few traces.

Almost as soon as I'd landed I got to find out why. The lava bubbled and surged, bulging upward in the middle as it slowly slipped away from the beast underneath – scaly, white, evil looking eyes and a glowing gem on its back that was practically screaming it was the weak point.

Not all the lava slipped off before it cooled, forming a cooling and hard shell over that, and even if it hadn't been for that I had no way to reach it.

"A little advice again, Ezlo?" I shot over my shoulder to him, watching it warily then moving quickly as it started to spit fire at me.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said a little condescendingly. "Why else would that cane be in this place?"

I'm not stupid enough to miss the hint there. The head tracked my movements at all times though, except when it was breathing fire.

It's long neck allowed it to turn quite a ways before the body, still floating in the middle needed to catch up – and as soon as the neck turned, I had access. I aimed and fired the little bit of light from Pacci's simple cane, then quickly got out the way as another stream of fire came my way.

There was the sound of something cracking and breaking, along with a hissing screech. The rock shell had been flipped and broken, only a few shards poking out of the scaly body. The impact appeared to have stunned it, leaving the neck draped over the lava, with the head coming to rest very conveniently nearby. It had obligingly given me a bridge.

I quickly crossed, not knowing how long it'd be out for, reaching the gem – and paused just before striking it. Instead I stabbed just beneath it, causing the beast, stunned as it was, to howl in pain as I cut the connection to it, then hurled the gem into the lava.

It started thrashing and slowly sinking back into the lava, forcing me to quickly get back out. I ran back up the neck, leapt off the head and had Ezlo get me back to the land safely. I turned in time to see it emerge out of the lava again the gem in its mouth as it nudged aside the new covering of lava to set it back in place. Alright, so that hadn't worked except to irritate it – which it promptly proved by setting an entire side of the room on fire.

That distracted it though, and distraction is one of my best friends. Within moments I was behind it, waiting for the lava to cool again. It looked about wildly, trying to decide whether I'd been incinerated or escaped. It spotted me too late, half turned even as the Cane did it's work again, the hardened shell slamming down and falling apart even as it was stunned.

I pulled the gem out again, ignoring the cries and more desperate attempts to throw me off until I had it safely in my hands, then again headed for land, lobbing it into a corner. It lunged for it, only to come up short, unless it moved its body from the middle it'd never reach it, and it seemed unwilling or unable to do it. It instead settled for trying to keep me away from it, breathing fire rapidly, setting yet more of the room alight. Several supports gave way and started to drop rocks, giving me even more to dodge – but also causing more rock fall.

_"You're starting to irritate me, Manic,"_ Link's voice muttered in one ear. I spotted a faint green pulse on the ceiling, then a rock came loose that whacked the beast on the head. Stunned once again and completely out of action, I darted for the gem while I had the chance and struck with my sword. Each time I hit it, the beast writhed and howled. Every time it made ready to attack me I struck again, forcing it to break off.

Eventually, long after I'd lost count of how many times I'd hit it, the gem shattered. With it the beast thrashed about some more, crying out even as the lava cooled and hardened, trapping it in what would soon be solid rock. As the lava cooled, so too did it until it was just a stone statue.

The Fire Element, a red crystal sphere with three protruding rays, fell down from somewhere above, clinking as it bounced off the stone head, then again off the body, coming to rest at my feet as the green portal flickered into life nearby.

I almost took the portal, but a familiar feeling told me someone was watching me. I quickly hushed Ezlo as I cast about, then spotted him – Vaati, watching from way up where I'd come down from.

"I see you're keeping busy, boy!" he called down. "But if you're collecting the elements, you're in for a big disappointment soon!"

"What would you know?" I called back. "You're looking for something completely different – and you still don't know where to find it either! You won't find it watching me, you know!"

Vaati laughed, turning into that cloud of specks again to form up again lower down. He looked me over, then gave Ezlo a piercing look.

"I should have known _you'd_ be involved," Vaati said flatly. "You should have kept your stupid beak out of this."

"I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't stolen the cap," Ezlo retorted. "It wasn't meant for you. It wasn't even meant for a Minish head."

"Oh, I remember. You wanted to give it to those idiot humans. They can't even get along with themselves most of the time. Foolish, Ezlo. Foolish as always." He looked back at me then and asked, "Has he told you who he really is yet?"

"That's none of his concern," Ezlo said quickly, but I overruled him.

"No – but that doesn't mean I haven't found out on my own," I told Vaati. "And I know exactly what you did and what you're talking about too."

Vaati''s usual calm smirk slipped slightly.

"It makes no difference," he asserted. "You cannot hope to stop me."

"I'm _so_ glad you said that," I grinned. "You do realize the moment you said that it immediately became false? It's a rule of being a villain – never say anything like 'nothing can stop me now' because something will."

"Fairy tale cliché," he snapped. "Just try and stop me."

"I already am, dear boy," I replied, still grinning broadly. "Maybe if you hurry you'll be a match for me when I come for you."

Not even Vaati deigned to respond to that except simply by leaving – something I also did, though through the portal.

"You played a dangerous game there, boy," Ezlo told me disapprovingly.

"Not really. Vaati and I both know I'm no match for him right now. We both know what each other is up to – he's looking for the Light force, and I know where to find that. I'm looking for the Elements, and he just proved he knows where to find them. So what if we're in for a disappointment? We don't know what it is, but we'll take it in our stride and carry on."

"And me? Do you really know..." he trailed off.

"That you're the Minish Sorcerer Ezlo that created the magic cap he stole, which is in turn what made him what he is? Of course I do. I'm a thief, Ezlo, I have to be observant. I can find out anything if I really want to."

We paused there for a moment so he could shrink us back down to enter Melari's mines.

"This... Light force he's looking for. You know something, don't you?"

"Oh yes," I said with an evil grin. "I know exactly where to find it. And as soon as we get back to town I'm going to see if I can arrange for something that will irritate Vaati a great deal when he finally finds it out. Now, why don't we go get the repaired sword?"

Melari had of course finished the sword long before I returned, though he insisted on hearing what had happened in the human mines before he let me have it. I gave him a somewhat embellished version of events that left out Ezlo's eminence among the Minish and Vaati's appearance.

Before it had looked simply like a highly polished, if broken, blade with a deep indigo handle that looked much like that of the Master Sword – not that I saw that at any time. Now however it had a silvery mirror finish and a bright green handle which had a number of golden embellishments added.

Melari had also added a new sheath for it, since the one I had right now wasn't suited for this sword. It was a bit longer than the one I'd been using, and considerably broader – though he assured me that he'd done things with it that'd make sure I could wield it with ease.

Once outside Ezlo examined the blade in great detail, then gave me my next destination.

"Back to town," he told me. "We've got two other elements to gather, but if I recall correctly, infusing this blade with each of the elements as we get them should power it up even further."

"Where in town, specifically?"

"The castle, actually. We want the Elemental Sanctuary, a place trapped between the human and Minish worlds. The doorway opens once every hundred years on the same day they hold the carnival, and it only stays open for a short time afterwards. Vaati might not be on a schedule, but _we_ are."

"I'll see about doing something about that if I can," I decided. "At least you won't have to worry about me picking people's pockets for rupees this time, and while I'm at it I'll see what I can do to annoy Vaati."

"What have you got in mind?" Ezlo asked curiously. I whispered my response to him very quietly, just in case Vaati was listening. "Typically devious of you," Ezlo sighed when I was done. "Do you really think it will work?"

"Oh, not for very long. As soon as he realizes he's going to blow his top. But by that time it'll be too late, and he'll be back where he started – trying to find something he doesn't know where to find. And that puts it firmly on our terms. He might rant and rage at us a bit, but he won't have the Light power."

"Vaati never was all that stable," Ezlo said thoughtfully. "He was a bit of a sore loser, and had some spectacular temper tantrums when he didn't get his way. It's entirely possible he'd do just that, you know. Wouldn't that be rather a shame?"

"C'mon. Lets get back to town so we can get things really rolling."


	15. Seeing Doubles

My stop in the town was short, but once I found the local stonemason and given him a fair amount of all the rupees I'd been picking up, it was most definitely productive. He'd thankfully been in the crowd up at the castle when Vaati first showed up, and so while he set about getting the right kind of stone I told him I'd head up to the castle to arrange to get him in to see the Princess.

You've probably guessed what I had in mind now, but for those who haven't and for the record, here it is. Zelda herself, as I already knew, was the vessel of the Light power, and eventually Vaati would think to look or find out something that would point him there. I planned to conceal the statue that was the real Princess Zelda in the stonemason's workshop, and replace it with a replica. Since his workshop was littered with various statues of one kind or another he'd be able to arrange it so that people would look right past her, and when Vaati examined the replica in an attempt to find the Light power, he'd find out I was one step ahead of him all this time.

Ezlo, for once, whole-heartedly approved of my little deception and the insistence, mostly to the stonemason, to keep this as quiet as possible. There were still a few things to be done though, things that I could do along with my other errands at the castle. I had a few words with the guards, firstly to ensure I for one would still be allowed through, and secondly with King Daltus and Minister Potho, to ensure _they_ knew what I was planning and also cooperated with the stonemason. Daltus even took my idea one step further and told me that when the replica statue arrived, he'd have it infused with just enough power that it'd fool Vaati, up to the point he tried to drain it.

I also asked about for the Elemental Sanctuary, but it appeared that no one even knew of its existence, let alone where it was. I eventually found it in a rooftop garden, clearly something important as it had a brightly glowing design encircling the doorway.

Inside seemed to be made from shimmering crystals, each one reflecting off all the others and showing me like a long hall of mirrors. More crystals inset into alcoves gave off a slight light, enhanced by the reflections to illuminate even this corridor with so few of them.

I passed through a large doorway at the end which closed after me. Nearby there were two switches, and no matter what I did neither one would stay switched. There were no statues, no pots, nothing I could use to weigh down the other switch. A trap?

Well, there _were_ statues – but these were massive blueish stones carved into the stylized likeness of warriors holding their swords aloft, and were far too heavy to move. Between two rows of them lay a set of steps leading up to a gleaming blue marble area. Four pedestals formed a square around a central plinth, each one with the design of one of the four Elements, the centre instead a place to put my sword.

It was clear enough to me what I had to do, even with only two Elements. I placed the Earth and Fire Elements on their respective pedestals, then drove my sword, point first, into the central one. The two Elements glowed brightly, starting to hum, then a beam of brilliant light, deep indigo for the Earth Element and blazing red for the Fire Element, shot forth toward the sword.

It too began to glow white, so bright I couldn't look at it for a time. When that passed and the two Elements had been infused into the sword, the green handle glowed slightly, first changing to the Earth's indigo, then again to Fire's red. In the base of the handle were now two tiny gemstones, each one identical to the two Elements. The gemstones I'd collected had vanished too, now permanently infused into the sword.

"That's it?" I asked, rather disappointed. "Just a change of colour? How's that even supposed to get us out of here?"

"Maybe the tablet rising out of the ground behind us will shed some light on it?" Ezlo suggested.

"What tablet?" I started, turning. Toward the back of the room a large stone tablet was soundlessly emerging from the stone. Carved symbols wrote a message, but the language was too far different from modern Hylian for me to read.

"Let me see now," Ezlo murmured to himself, apparently suspecting I couldn't read it. "Ah yes... yes... interesting..." he went on for a time while I waited patiently – after all, it wasn't like I could go anywhere.

"Well?" I asked when he was done.

"I have no idea for sure," he admitted. "It seems to suggest... well, that you could split into as many of yourself as you have elements."

"Split? Like take a piece off? I'd rather stay in one piece, Ezlo."

"I don't think it means that. Maybe we should just try it. Swing your sword to one side of you, Manic," he told me.

I picked the sword out of the stone again, got some space around me, then swung it to my left. There was an audible hum to it this time, and as the sword swung it glowed brightly. Then with a small flash, I appeared beside me.

Or at least that's what it looked like. He _looked_ identical to me, except his cap wasn't a copy of Ezlo, it was just a cap, and he, like what he wore, was in tones of red instead of green. We looked each other over, almost perfectly mimicking each other.

"Oh, I see," I said, realization dawning. "Each element lets me make a copy of myself like him."

"Yeah, 'cept you needed two 'cause you're the second," my red double put in. "Now we can go open the door."

"Wait, how did you know about that?"

"'cause I'm you," he replied with my own sometimes insufferable attitude. "I know everything you did at the moment you created me. With a bit extra from the elements so I can explain. Not that I need to, 'cause the moment I touch that sword I vanish, and it all gets given to you too."

"Well now," I said with a growing grin. "Isn't _that_ interesting? Thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Naturally," he smirked. "No place in town is safe from us now."

"Oh, gods," Ezlo sighed. "What have I done? One of you was bad enough, now I've got two to worry about?"

"Hey, just think – it wasn't your idea," Red told him. "And we're probably gonna need this later on, right?"

"I don't doubt," Ezlo said in a despairing tone. "No doubt one of you will come up with a clever excuse to use it in other ways too."

"Would we do a thing like that?" Red and I both said in unison. Not surprisingly, Ezlo refused to answer, leaving us to both step on the switches to open the door, then for the convenience of not having to explain how I found a near-identical copy of me in the castle, he simply touched the sword and vanished with another small flash. With it came a few extra memories – taken from Red's point of view – and the additional knowledge he'd been given. I knew how to make the sword know whether I intended to create him or not, and even how many to create – when I had the elements for it, of course.

* * *

"I wonder if that one would work for anyone," Tails mused. "The Master Sword chooses it's bearer, except when I persuaded it to cooperate, and Silver's masks only work for him – probably because he healed the souls of those contained within."

"Never heard of any restrictions on my sword," Manic said. "So I guess it's possible. Anyone wanna try?"

"How about me?" Scourge offered. "If any of you trust me, that is. Can't get a better test though, can you? I'm not even a Hero."

"Thank the gods," Silver murmured with the barest hints of a smile playing over his otherwise distracted face as he wrote yet more to Shad's notes. Scourge only scowled.

"Hold on there," Auru said quietly. "You said that sword is the Four Sword, didn't you Manic?"

"That's right. It's got all four Elements in it now," he agreed.

"So four in total. Do we have enough room?"

"We will shortly," Telma told them, moving several tables aside. "Forms to your left, Manic said, so you just borrow the sword and stand right there for it," she told Scourge, pointing to the cleared area.

Manic took out the Four Sword and reversed it, offering it to Scourge. "No tricks," he warned. "Or I'll have Tails go wolf and hunt you down."

Scourge's scowl became more pronounced as he took the blade.

"Just swing?" he asked. Manic nodded. Scourge swung the blade to his left, and just as Manic described it, it hummed, glowed, then there was a bright flash. Beside Scourge there were now not three copies of him, but four. They all had his black jacket in common, unchanged by the colours, but otherwise each one was a different colour with a matching tunic, first red, then blue and purple.

On the end was one who wore black, clearly resemblant of Dark. Almost as soon as he'd appeared there was a faint whimper, then he darted behind the others and vanished back into the sword again. The four Scourges looked to Manic, their eyes joining the curious others on him.

"Yeah," he said uneasily. "I guess I kinda forgot about him. You won't get the memories off him like you will the other three."

Scourge offered the sword to his copies, each of which simply touched it to return, then returned the blade to Manic.

"Disorienting," he said absently. "Seeing everything from their views as well as my own, I mean. Anyway – that last one-"

"Yeah, I know," Manic said. "I dunno if I wanna tell you yet though. Might be considered a bit of a spoiler. I mean you know I obviously done some things, like collected the Elements or beating Vaati, but it's sorta separate from that."

"If you aren't sure, just make us wait," Silver said absently, already back engrossed in Shad's work again.


	16. Shoes for a Swamp

For the moment there was nothing else I had to do in either castle or town except wait for the statue, and that hardly needed me to keep watch over it, so I made for the next Element – which according to Ezlo was the Wind Element, kept in the swampy Castor Wilds that formed the south-western part of Hyrule.

From both the southern part of Hyrule Field and Trilby Highlands to the west however, I found no immediate way to reach them. Several rocky boulders blocked the usual paths that there was no way I was going to move even if I doubled my strength by calling Red out again.

After I poked about and looked in more detail I found a ladder leading down into a cavern, almost concealed by the surrounding rocks. I had to shove a few aside to get to the ladder itself, which looked as if it had been a bit battered by the rock shower, but eventually dropped down into the dusty, dimly lit area.

Further rockfall had blocked off one area, and blasting it opened the way into a second chamber dotted with scrubby plants, grown by light that came in through a small hole and was reflected about by a crystal.

No monsters were here, and browsing through the bushes didn't reveal anything except a small flower in the ground with a card on it reading, 'Gone for supplies, back on Tuesday'.

"Must be a spot owned by a Business Scrub," Ezlo remarked. "I imagine if he gets any idea of what happened here, he'll be thankful for your re-opening of his cavern. Probably not enough to try not to gouge you though, they're terrible for that."

"Believe me, if they think they can cheat me, I'll teach them a thing or two. No one gets the better of me."

"Try not to get distracted, Manic. We do have other things to be doing."

I left the cavern and almost headed back up the ladders when I saw a large stone brick blocking the way. Far too heavy for me to move on my own, but perhaps...

Red needed no explanation, knowing already from my own thoughts before I created him. Working together we both put our shoulders against the stone and pushed. It grudgingly gave way, crunching its way along until something else blocked it from moving any further, by which time there was already a gap to go through.

Since Red was closer he drew his copy of the sword, which I noted had only the Fire Element gemstone in the base of, and went warily ahead. I quickly examined my own, finding that yes, I only had the Earth Element.

"It's all clear," Red's voice came back. "Coupla bats what got too close and a ladder back outside, but nothing else." A pause, then, "Hey! Watch where you're spitting those things!"

"That sounds familiar," Ezlo murmured as I moved to join Red. He was part way up the ladder, just below ground level and he ducked as the familiar sound of an Octorok came, followed by the rock it had spat tumbling down.

"How many?" I asked.

Red poked his head up, looked around quickly, then ducked back down and replied, "Two. I can see a wall that looks like it can be bombed too."

"You got bombs too?"

"Nah, you got all those things, I just got a sword. Don't even get a shield, 'cause you're the important one. You can just re-create me. Don't mean I like it thought," he added. "I'll take the nearest one, you come on up after and take the other. Chuck me a bomb and I'll get the wall too."

"Hey! That's my job you're taking there?"

"I'm you, I'm allowed," Red countered impudently, already darting up over the edge. As I scrambled up after him I heard him snap, "Spit rocks at _me_ will you?"

The remaining Octorok here was blue instead of the red I'd seen before, but wasn't all that different really. One strike still defeated it, then while mine was still vanishing I threw a bomb toward Red, who deftly bounced it from one hand to the other, then landed it right beside the part of the wall he'd mentioned.

He went in without a word, coming out with a handful of rupees I stowed away because he apparently didn't even have my fanny pack, he just had the recoloured clothes and the sword. That could be inconvenient, but could also be worked around if I shared my kit with him.

Rather than recall him, I figured since there wouldn't be many people around here we could benefit from keeping him around for now and headed south, in the process defeating what Ezlo called a Moblin – tall, pig-like creatures with tusks and long, nasty spears that charged for us whenever they spotted us. We worked around that by splitting up, one of us taunting it while the other attacked from behind – which got its attention, allowing us to do the same again. Being able to effectively be in two places at once was _very_ helpful.

There were a few standard red Octoroks too when we found the well worn path stretching from the rock slide area southwards, and from this side we also found a rock that we could push out the way in order to make a short cut and re-open the route for others.

South was the area more commonly known as the Western Woods, despite their more southerly location. Here we fought off more Octoroks, a couple more Trilbys and two more Moblins, noticing that here instead of rock falls there were fallen trees instead – not that it didn't stop us rolling a few logs and another stone aside to create another short cut, this time to South Hyrule Field.

We could have headed further south from there, but in dealing with one of the Moblins I came across a sign that told us where the entrance to Castor Wilds was, along with the curious note of 'Don't forget your Pegasus Boots!'

"Pegasus Boots?" Red asked as we passed the sign. "Never heard of anything like them before."

"They let you run even faster than normal," Ezlo supplied. "And tirelessly too. I've heard tell that they're needed in Castor Wilds, but I've never been this way before so I couldn't tell you why."

"I'd say that's why," I said, pointing ahead to the swamp. Like all swamps it was green, mucky and stunk.

Red sheathed his sword and picked up a fair sized tree branch, throwing it into the murky swamp water. The splash it made was hardly impressive, and the branch started to sink down into it, bubbling and gurgling as it seemed almost drawn down.

"Yeah, I'd say not even two of us working together could get us past that water," Red agreed. "If you can even call it water. It looks more like slime to me."

"Then we go about finding some Pegasus Boots. I think I saw a shoe store back in town, they've probably heard about them at least, or know where to find them."

"Probably best I don't go with you, so we don't upset the gate guards after you went and told them it's just you and that imposter you," Red suggested, already reaching for my sword. I extended it to him, letting him rejoin me and then pausing while I got his memories again. This time with a few more of them it took me a bit longer to adjust, and it felt weird remembering both sides of the conversation, as if I'd been talking to myself. Which I had, but at the same time, hadn't. Really confusing, and not much easier when there's two more as well, take it from me.

With the monsters already dealt with and the routes cleared, I made it back to town in no time at all, and since towns are my natural habitat and the natural home of my usual prey, so to speak, after only a few moments to think I knew exactly where to go. I've got mental maps of too many towns and cities to count stored in my head, and all of them have at least a few routes that aren't on any official maps. Sometimes when you have to leave in a hurry, it helps to know a secret back way out of the town itself, after all. Misunderstandings do happen, you know.

The shoe store was a small one-man business run by a sleepy cobbler named Rem, who I quickly gathered was frequently found sleeping and was a heavy sleeper at that. According to some he somehow managed to work in his sleep, though as yet no one had figured out how. As I passed the counter he was sleeping at though, I spotted a few tiny Minish and suspected I knew.

A handy pot, once flipped by the Cane of Pacci, provided us with a portal to shrink down to their size, making the trek back to the desk and a handy ladder that allowed them to get up to the counter top and back, made in such a way that no ordinary people would see it – unless they already knew it was there, or like me had good eyes.

Town Minish are still Minish, but felt the need to distinguish themselves with a different style of clothes, mostly in blues. There were several of them up here, two teams each working on one of the two shoes of a pair under the guidance of a foreman who stood on top of the edge of another nearby shoe. He noticed us, then issued a few short commands and trekked down to meet me.

"You're Manic aren't you?" he said without preamble. Foremen always seem to be gruff and blunt, I've noticed. I think it's a job requirement. "I hear tell of what you're up to. Old Gentari down in the forest sent word to us all."

"I like it when people help out like that, it saves on introductions," I noted. "I'd talk to sleepy-head there about this, but since he's out in the land of nod... I'm after a pair of Pegasus Boots."

"You're in luck then," the Foreman told me. "We're just working on a pair now, but we can't finish them ourselves – only Rem can do that. Bit of a cooperative relationship, you could say, except he has no idea we're here. Anyway – you'll want to trek down to Lake Hylia, just north of the Minish Forest, and find Syrup's Hut. She'll have something that'll wake up sleeping not-such-a-beauty there."

"More trekking across the length of Hyrule for the help of a few people," I sighed. "I wonder if anyone's got a horse I could... borrow."

"You mean steal," Ezlo corrected.

"No. Just borrow without permission," I told him. "There's a difference you know."

"It's not really that far, Manic," the Foreman told me, then spent a few moments giving me directions, then once I remembered I had a map of Hyrule on me, he marked the place and pointed out a few landmarks that'd make it easier to find my way.


	17. Old Habits

There was no direct route through the Minish Forest itself to Syrup's Hut, forcing me to go via Lake Hylia – which in turn I could either swim down from Veil Falls, or make my way through Lon Lon Ranch. Since I never really liked getting wet – not until later on, at least – it's not hard to figure out which way I went.

Talon and Malon, the owners of the ranch as father and daughter, were a little down on their luck. Talon had rather absent-mindedly lost the key to get them into the main ranch building itself, which for some odd reason was going to be a major thoroughfare for Lake Hylia, and the spare key was inside the house.

Ezlo naturally pointed out a small Minish sized hole and reminded me we had only to find a portal close enough to use it. I ignored him, asked Talon to stand aside and, quite naturally, picked the lock for them. Well, why not? It wasn't like I was going to loot anything, not while they were right there.

Talon seemed to barely notice what I'd done as such because he was so profuse with his thanks. More interestingly though was that not only had Malon found my solution very interesting, but also that she'd found my brief interaction with Ezlo amusing – and yet, outside of the Minish it seemed like no one else noticed him.

"It's because she's young enough," he told me after we'd passed through the ranch and filled in some more holes to create more short cuts. "I'm still technically a Minish, so adults just see an ordinary cap – like the one on your red double when you create him. Children, like you, see the reality instead."

"That could come in useful – like if there's something going on and we can't mention it openly."

"Manic, have you _ever_ had an honest thought in your corrupt life?"

I paused and pretended to consider it, then cheerfully answered, "Nope! Don't think so!"

"That's what I thought," he sighed.

We only actually passed through a small part of Lake Hylia which was, it appeared, completely separate from the rest of it due to the thick undergrowth between the ancient trees lining the paths, and I wouldn't be surprised to find a certain friend was responsible in some way for the single route I could take, ensuring that I couldn't side-track even if I wanted to. There was one small area I could have swum across a small lake to get back to the earlier parts of the Minish Forest, but there wasn't really any need.

Syrup's hut looked oddly natural, as if it had just grown. It may once have been a tree, but now it had a lean-to on either side, a roof made out of something natural and purple that had grown out of the wood itself, and chimneys that were little more than hollow logs. I knocked, only to get a muffled voice tell me to use the back door since the front door was stuck fast.

Syrup herself can only be described as a witch. She didn't have the typical nose or warts of a witch, but she certainly dressed the part. Pots of strangely coloured and even more strange smelling liquids bubbled around, things even I couldn't put a name to bobbed gently in jars and I swear I caught sight of a stuffed alligator somewhere in the murky rafters.

She appeared to only have a few things immediately available, a large pot of something blue, a smaller one she was stirring, and a collection of all kinds of mushrooms. Syrup caught my look toward them.

"You're interested in mushrooms, little creature?" she asked, not a screech as you might expect of a witch. In fact, it was the sort of voice that if you didn't know her, you'd think belonged to a relatively ordinary person.

"Probably, or something else you've got," I replied, trying to conceal my habitual thieves' gaze – you'll know if you see it, our eyes never stay still for more than a moment as we take in everything. Usually in preparation for a later and most times unannounced visit.

"And what is it you're looking for? Perhaps you're not really what you look like, but simply cursed to that form? It has happened you know..."

"Curse? This is what I've always been, and I wouldn't pass it up for anything. Probably," I added after a moment's thought. "No, what I want is something to wake someone up. Rem, over in town. I need him to do something for me, and he's busy sleeping."

Syrup beckoned me closer and pointed to the ladle. "Stir this," she told me. "Not too quickly. I'll fetch just the thing for you, and while you're doing that you find out oh... sixty rupees for me. That'll cover it, I should think."

"If you pay attention you'll notice that was what we call 'paying for something'," Ezlo murmured to me. "It's what honest people do all the time."

"Very funny Ezlo. I do pay for things from time to time you know," I told him.

"Oh, of course. I never doubted it for a second. Maybe it's because I can't shake the feeling you usually stole back what you paid later, or some other similar act."

"I'm a thief, what do you expect of me?" I shrugged.

Syrup returned with a fair-sized and pungent mushroom, checking the rupees I'd left out for her then scooping them up and handing it over to me.

"One whiff of this will ensure all but those in a magic sleep will instantly awaken," she told me. "I have to get them from the Lost Woods – on the occasions the local entrance appears, at least. Seems to me I saw you there recently..." she added thoughtfully. "But different too. Darker."

"Yeah, I know about him," I nodded, handing back the ladle to her. "He's no one to worry about, at least for now. Thanks Syrup."

"You're welcome, little Manic – and next time you see Link, tell him to give me some warning before he moves my store again."

That simple statement told me that Link really was involved in setting up everything I had to go through, including this little side-quest just for a pair of boots, and that not everyone was ignorant of him.

Ezlo still was though.

"Just who is this Link?" he asked me. "You've mentioned him a few times, and now she does too. Who is he Manic, and why does he keep cropping up?"

"He'll tell you if he thinks you need to know," I replied evasively. "Or unless he shows up to nudge things along a bit, but I don't think we're likely to see that too often."

"That's not an answer, Manic."

"Of course it is. It's just not a very good one. Now lets get back to town, wake up Rem, get my new boots and then head back to Castor Wilds. We've still got an Element to retrieve."

* * *

When I got back to town I had an unexpected diversion. The guards at the gates, who were aware of who I was thanks to the earlier meeting with the King, instead of standing impassively to let me pass blocked my path instead.

"What d'ya think you're doing?" I demanded. "I'm trying to save your Princess you know!"

"I'm afraid we've been asked to detain you," one of them said apologetically. "There's been a few irregularities in town lately, and we need to hear from you."

Ordinarily I'd try to weasel my way out of this, if not by running than by lying, but in the circumstances I decided I was going to have to set aside my natural response instead.

"Look, it's like this," I told them, trying to sound reasonable. "You know what I'm doing, don't you?" The two guards nodded. "And you know why I'm the one doing it?" Another pair of nods. "Well, time is important in this, and I don't have time to go running everyone's errands to fill my wallet. So I do what I have to so I can save time and work quicker, 'cause the quicker I work, the sooner you get your Princess back and the sooner I can deal with Vaati."

"You can't just steal whatever you want, Manic!" the second guard protested. "And you can't use your little quest to get out of it!"

"I'm not stealing whatever I want," I corrected. "I'm stealing whatever I need, when I need it. And right now, that means I got to go see Rem and wake him up so he can make me some Pegasus Boots, so I can cross Castor Wilds."

"That still doesn't give you the right to use this excuse," he insisted stubbornly.

I hate it when people get in my way when I'm in a hurry, so I sighed and said, "Alright then. We'll do this my way instead, and you can see my _other_ excuse."

They looked puzzled for a moment until I quickly ducked underneath their pikes. The startled guards turned in time to see me turn and give them a mocking grin, followed by, "Catch me if you can!" before I took off.

Disappointingly only a few guards gave chase, and Hyrule's finest weren't exactly in the best of shape. Even after telling them where I was going, they insisted on following me instead, trying to keep up as I took to rooftops, back alleys and even concealing myself behind or inside various pots, crates and whatever else I found along the way. A few times I considered finding a portal and shrinking to lose them, but I didn't really need to do that to completely lose them, and once I was sure I'd dealt with my pursuit I headed back toward Rem, keeping a wary eye out in case another guard spotted me.


	18. Spirits and Silence

The pungent scent of the mushroom Syrup had given me was powerful enough that Rem was stirring almost before I'd even got it near him, and it took only one whiff right under his nose to jerk him back into the waking world. The Minish over the counter top quickly concealed themselves, not because Rem might see them I reasoned but more because they didn't want to get a pair of shoes or a tool on their heads.

"What in the name of the Goddesses is that awful smell?" Rem exclaimed, wiping sleep from his eyes.

"I dunno, this maybe?" I replied innocently, showing him the mushroom. Rem quickly drew back from its scent and wrinkled his nose.

"That's awful! Why would you do this to me?"

"You were sleeping on the job," I shrugged. "And I needed a pair of Pegasus Boots and didn't have time to wait for you to finish dreaming."

"That's rather heartless of you," Ezlo noted. I ignored him, since only the Minish could also hear him.

"Oh, you're a customer!" Rem said, instantly turning into the congenial shopkeeper. "But I don't have any Pegasus Boots available right now, and..." he trailed off, as I tapped the counter near the boots the Minish had been working on. "Again?" he sighed. "I don't know how I do it. It's like I make these things in my sleep or something."

The Minish foreman made a slightly exaggerated gesture that told me exactly what he thought of that statement.

"Looks to me like you're good at it too, and you have exactly what you need. I'll trade you the mushroom for them," I offered. "After all, you want to be awake if someone else needs you, right?"

Rem hesitated, evidently thinking this through given that he thought he made shoes in his sleep.

"You could always keep it somewhere it won't wake you and leave a sign up so customers know what to do if you're sleeping again," I suggested.

"Aye, that'd about do it," Rem conceded finally, putting the final touches on the Pegasus Boots for me.

To my disappointment, the local guards had either forgotten about me or decided to give up, allowing me to make my way back through town without a single incident. Even the guards at the south gate didn't react – though Ezlo did once we got out of earshot.

"Someone's used magic near here," he told me quietly. "Not Minish magic, but magic all the same. It's coming from that copse of trees just over there."

I followed where he'd pointed with his beak to where, in the middle of a ring of trees was a faintly glowing, slightly humming circle laying on the ground.

"Any idea what it is?" I asked Ezlo, who attempted a shrug.

"It's a portal, Manic," Link's voice told me from a nearby tree branch where he'd perched. "And it leads to something you probably ought to do. You can go without of course, but you really shouldn't."

"Back to nudging things along already?" I asked him. "I thought you didn't want to get involved?"

"I didn't, but I was persuaded otherwise," he grimaced. "I had other plans for what you get out of this, but Fate stopped by and persuaded me to think again. I don't think it's possible for anyone, immortal or not, to win an argument with Her. I swear She arranges it that way in advance. Just go through and get Her off my back, Manic."

I didn't remark on that, his emphasis making it clear Fate was an immortal like him. Stepping on the portal made it do its work, making the world around me blur white like a watercolour painting after you splash water on it, then blur back into the colours of a large room that was made of some kind of white bricks that were oddly soft to the touch.

There were several people in the room, all bedecked in odd blue and red garments. One matronly woman stood by the door, looking at me with disapproval, but said nothing. Three more were clustered around one of the beds in the room, and there in the bed was an elderly and clearly unwell man.

The portal thrummed behind me as I quietly approached and Link appeared again. Once more the matronly woman's expression soured, but once more she said nothing.

"I took the liberty of coming here in advance to talk to them," he murmured to me. The old man is dying, but not of old age or any other natural causes. Fate tells me there's an outside influence, but She doesn't have the time to look into it."

"But She has the time to look you up over it?" I replied.

"You really don't want to know the details, Manic," Link said in a pained tone. "I'm not allowed to get involved myself, but since you're my chosen Hero here, you can. I also can't tell you what you're supposed to do at all, and I certainly can't tell you to look a little closer for an idea of it."

"Wait, if you can't-" Ezlo started, but Link quickly silenced him.

"Don't talk about it. I don't want Her to realize I'm trying to get around her. You've got better things to be doing than running Her errands for me, so make quick work of it."

He refused to say any more. I approached the bed, expecting one of the concerned family to stop me, but the most I got was a look, followed by a glance toward Link, who just nodded. They knew I was here and that I was going to do something, they just didn't know what, and apparently didn't feel the need to say anything to me.

At first glance there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary about this, and the old man was simply feeling his age, but Link had told me this wasn't the case. First glances can often be misleading. A sharp eye told me there was some_thing_ hovering above the him, but it wasn't clear enough to make out.

"Ezlo," I murmured quietly, covering the action by appearing to rifle through my fanny pack. "You can still use some of your magic, can't you?"

"Not nearly as much as I'd like," he said, having no need to keep his voice down. "Even simple stuff is harder with Vaati's curse on me."

"I don't want anything too complex, I don't think. I just think there's something above him that I can't quite make out. Can you make it visible somehow?"

"How are you going to explain it to them?" he asked me. "All they'll see is a bit of magic coming from you and something appearing."

"Then maybe it's time I appeared to have learned how to do some magic," I replied. Have you noticed how we Heroes pass off all kinds of things as magic because it's easier? I thought I noticed you noticing.

Ezlo helped by making his spell appear to come from me rather than from what they saw as my hat, and a brilliant bolt of greenish-purple light caused the faint shape to become clearer, some kind of spirit that was hovering over the man and afflicting him. The family were startled by its sudden appearance, once of them almost starting a startled exclamation before another held him back – something I immediately registered and filed under 'deeply suspicious'. Why wouldn't they talk in front of me?

Whatever the reason, I needed no prompting for the rest, taking out the Gust Jar to draw off the spirit into the Jar and making the old man's face grow noticeably lighter than it had been. There were grateful looks all around, but again no words – and an unspoken suggestion that perhaps it was time for me to leave.

Link wordlessly extracted the spirit from the Jar, holding it struggling in one hand as we both passed back through the portal retuning us to Hyrule. Once there he gave it a hard look and told it something in a harsh, guttural language. Whatever he said, the spirit responded in fear, vanishing instantly.

"What did you say to it?" I asked, intrigued.

"I doesn't translate very well," he replied. "Very little of the Demon tongue does. Now, aren't you supposed to be heading to Castor Wilds?"


	19. Swamp Search

I don't like Castor Wilds much. More than certain other places, that's for sure, but it isn't among the places I'm in any hurry to see again. It's humid, dank and every now and then I'm sure I catch a whiff of it that I still haven't managed to wash out.

It's one huge swampy overgrown maze, but if you look closely as you're running about with your own Pegasus Boots, there's signs there that it was once in much better condition, and not only that, but probably farmland of some kind.

The map of Hyrule I had was unusually detailed for this area, though by contrast and very interestingly, the area immediately south of here was almost completely unmapped – as if the map maker had just trailed off. I made use of the map and the new boots to get around, not bothering to call out Red for now since he'd only lack the boots.

In the course of exploring the swamp I came across a snake-infested cave that in turn led to an underground area that was clearly artificial. Nature doesn't form bricks and mortar, after all. It was in disrepair and had vines and moss growing everywhere, blocking me off from many parts of it except for one room with a partly transparent chest in the middle – which in turn vanished as I approached, replaced with a metal-clad giant.

"Darknut!" Ezlo exclaimed, startled. "You'll never get past that shield."

"Bet?" I grinned at him briefly, then quickly dodged aside as the massive blade it wielded swung for me. You could practically hear it cut the air into pieces.

Now, a sensible person would lob bombs at it, or make use of the Pegasus Boots to run circles around it. I decided that wasn't good enough for me so leapt for the great... thing, using the chinks in its own armour to scramble up. It stupidly tried to swing for me only to send its blade clanging off its own helmet, something I made worse by slamming the hilt of my own sword on it too. I imagine it must have been like being inside a ringing bell.

The Darknut dropped its sword and clutched at the still humming helmet with a howl, and while it was distracted I neatly slashed off the straps holding its armour in place, revealing its unprotected and somewhat desiccated dead body underneath. I can't say I didn't recoil back from that a bit, but anyone would have if they'd found a dead man inside armour like that.

Stabbing it where various vital organs are didn't really work, and by the time it had realized I was hanging around the back of its neck it had come to its senses and threw me off. It still had its shield and stooped quickly to retrieve the sword, but without the armour it now moved much quicker.

I made a pass in the air to bring Red out to join me, who naturally knew exactly what I had in mind and headed around one side, while I headed the other way. The Darknut, realizing the nature of its enemy had changed, paused to consider this – and made a mistake.

I was clearly the greater threat, since none of my equipment showed up on Red except for the sword. Somewhere in its rotting mind it made the connection that I was the one to go for, which is exactly what I wanted. I darted back away from its attacks, while Red crept up behind it and when ready, leapt up and neatly decapitated it.

"Honestly, what'd ya do without me?" he asked as the Darknut toppled and the chest reappeared.

"Get into less trouble?" Ezlo muttered to himself, though not quietly enough that I didn't hear. Red ignored him, opening the chest and glancing in.

"Might want to look at this," he suggested.

The chest did not hold anything I could take as such – rather, it had concealed a stone tablet carved into the back and a rusted switch.

"It says something about a flood control," Ezlo said after a moment. "The runes are too worn to make it out for sure, or what it does."

"One way to find out," I said. "Give me a hand shifting this thing will you?"

Red just nodded, shoving the ancient switch toward me while I pulled. Squealing in protest it was eventually heaved over. Sounds of machinery clanking and shifting came from behind various walls, but otherwise nothing really happened.

Red rejoined me, since he lacked the boots, then we headed outside and used a rocky mound that looked like it had once been a house before it collapsed to look about and try to find what had changed.

"Nothing happened," Ezlo said. "Nothing that we can see anyway. We don't even know where to look."

"South," I said absently. "Or weren't you listening to where all those sounds came from?"

"Some of us don't have your thieves' sense, you know," he told me somewhat tartly.

"And some of us do even if we don't want to," another voice said, belonging once again to Dark, who was down on the ground not far away. "Do you know how hard it is for me to go through town without your damn instincts trying to make me steal everything that isn't nailed down?" he demanded.

"Not really, I got a handle on it ages ago," I shrugged. "What are you doing here, besides making the place look worse than it already is?"

"Nice, Manic," he sighed again. "Mature. I've been here poking about after I left you up on Mount Crenel. Everyone knows there's something hidden here, they just don't know what, and the monsters keep it that way. Let me guess: you found a switch down there and triggered it. I know you did because that's what led me to you."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Because I'm stuck thinking like you, alright?" he snapped. "And showing off how smart you are is what you'd do."

"You're telling me," Ezlo said. "Why are you telling us what we already know, other than because of him?"

"Because there's two other switches you haven't found yet. And don't need to either, I already got them for you. I just left that one alone because it had the Darknut in, and I didn't feel like playing with it."

"So what did they do then, smart ass?" I asked.

"Open the floodgates over that way," he answered with a vague gesture southward. "There used to be some city there according to local lore, and the floodgates kept them dry. Since this place is hardly going to flood any more, its kind of pointless and ended up just keeping people out. The whole place is probably even more ruined and overgrown than here, so it should be perfect for you, since you're the Hero."

I gave him a thoughtful look.

"Don't even think about it," he told me, apparently having some idea what I was thinking. "It took me long enough to get around this place without the Pegasus Boots everyone else uses and I've been bitten by more snakes than I care to think about. I'm not sticking around to put up with it any more, least of all with you."

* * *

"I see Dark never really got over that," Knuckles noted. "I've never quite understood why he holds so much resentment against us. Or at least me. I guess maybe he doesn't like the fact he's always like a shadow of the Hero."

"You created him, why didn't you just un-create him again?" Tails asked.

"You know when Silver told us about that meeting in the Stone Tower Temple, and how Dark explained he decided to rebel against what I had in mind? That broke any hold I had over him. I'd originally intended for him to be around as long as I needed him, mainly because Fi insisted it was safer that way. I don't think she really approved of the idea in the first place to tell you the truth," he admitted. "She wasn't exactly willing to help me do it, but I needed her cooperation. Anyway, if he hadn't decided to go off on his own and become what he did, the two of us could have put a stop to him. That's the other reason I can't, of course – I don't have Fi around any more."

"Just why did you create him then if even she didn't like it?" Sonic asked.

"Because having to work in two different time-frames was doing my head in. I wasn't working with them like you were," he nodded to Silver. "There were these time-crystal things that made the area around them become the ancient past. I found out by accident that if I left anything in one of those areas then deactivated the crystal, it stayed in the past. Because Dark was a part of me, even if I did that to him Fi and I could still keep an eye on him. I had him handle stuff in the past without having to use the crystals, and what he did affected me because at the time he was still a part of me."

Silver chuckled sympathetically, then said, "At least you didn't have paradoxes to worry about.

"Anything would have been better than having to mix 'now' and 'then' together with those crystals," Knuckles replied.


	20. A Little Intervention

The ruins south of the swamp are not exactly a town or a fortress, at least not in the normal sense. As Dark had guessed, much of the ruins were weed-choked, vine covered and time-worn, but there was still just enough left to tell what had once been here.

This area was not so much a fortress as it was a winding passage, a way in to the Fortress of Winds itself, high ledges overlooking it on either side acting as a means of keep an eye on those who came and went and as a considerable defensive measure.

They were unmanned however, and following the ancient paved route through was for the most part, uneventful. More snakes showed up in places, some pretending to be hanging vines, but something about me persuaded them to leave me alone – all this heroic personality maybe.

At occasional intervals the path narrowed and became blocked by statues made of a red metal that I first thought was simply rusted iron, but soon discovered wasn't. They appeared to be cyclopes, each with a token shield and a sword. The first of them got up as I approached, clicking and whirring with what sounded like clockwork machinery as it jerked erratically toward me, trying to strike with its sword – only to pause and unsteadily retreat back to its position once I had also retreated beyond the reach of the area it was protecting.

I lured it out again, trying to work within its limited range to sneak past it, but its own erratic movements made it too difficult to work with. I managed for a moment to get behind it and discover there was a hollow with a small gemstone set in, and after much manoeuvring I finally managed to get myself into a position to yank it out of place – causing it to slow down and eventually stop entirely, as the gem was evidently its power source. The statue was left with with its sword aloft as the hum of the inner workings faded.

I faced several more of these as I worked my way down the path, until I came to one that wasn't even active in the first place, and since the ruins around this one made it impossible to get past while it was in the way, I couldn't tell if it had a power gem in or not.

Ezlo, for once, noticed something before I did that held the solution.

"Manic, look there," he said intently. "On the shield. Doesn't that look like a ladder you could climb? And at the top, the eye – it's hollow. Maybe there's something inside we can work with."

"I think I saw a tree stump somewhere back there we can use," I said. "It'll take us a while to trek all the way back here though, even with the Pegasus Boots."

"Maybe there's another one nearby?" he suggested hopefully.

After clearing away some hanging vines – and a couple of snakes – that had masked it, we did find another stump to use as a portal. Ezlo had me clean it out a bit and carve a hole in the base of it, suggesting that it wasn't so much the stump itself that had any magic to it, it was just a case of ensuring it had a small enough way out to it.

Our probably newly created portal cut down on how long it took to reach the statue, and after a long climb up the front of the shield and into its eye it turned out to be with good reason. Inside was another switch, and heaving on it lit up designs over the walls in a pulsating red. Returning outside and eventually restoring my size caused the statue to respond as expected and attack.

A little further ahead we had to turn this trick around, as there was one statue that instead of attacking, darted for the next narrow opening and turned in such a way that not only could I not reach the power gem, but also blocked off any Minish from using the ladder. I made a trip back to the new portal and made heavy use of the Pegasus Boots to run all the way back to it, hoping I didn't trigger it as a Minish either.

I didn't, and as heaving on the switch inside deactivated it, once I was back to normal size again I was thankful for it because otherwise it would have taken even longer to handle. It was actually with some disappointment I found this was the last one before the Fortress of Winds, so identified by the somewhat worn sign outside that marked it as such.

Inside was dusty, stone walls in many places giving way to dirt walls that left only narrow corridors. Years of neglect and weather had made what was probably an already challenging sounding place potentially worse. After some poking about I found four doors, all of which unlocked, all of which ancient, and all of which led north. I picked the westernmost one to start with. There may have been others hidden behind the dirt, but unless I found some digging tools it was too tightly packed to make it worthwhile to try and find out.

"To think the ruins were hidden right here all this time," Ezlo mused along the way. "We should be wary of any traps that still work, Manic."

I coughed and gave him a meaningful glance.

"Don't remind me again," he said. "I should remember by now."

The room beyond the first door was actually completely empty, and my experienced thieves' eye saw nothing out of the ordinary. A large hole in the ceiling led all the way up to the top of the fortress, suggesting that in this part at least there were two floors, and there were sounds of clinking and flapping also telling me the upper floors were not so deserted.

I padded silently up the stairs at the back of the room, cautiously peeking into the floor above where two skeletons were wandering around, accompanied by a few bats – one of which even hanging inside a skeleton's ribcage.

Before I dealt with them I headed back down the stairs a ways, brought out Red again, then we both sneaked back up and waited for the skeletons to both be turned away from the stairs. When we had the opportunity we picked a skeleton each and darted quickly for them, slamming bodily into them. The skeletons shattered and sent bones flying over the place, along with one very startled bat that had evidently been enjoying a nap. Within a few moments we'd depopulated the area of monster life and were trying, without much success, not to laugh. It had been the kind of trick you'd expect from someone like me, not the sort of thing a Hero would resort to at all.

I found once again that Red was not _always_ exactly like me, and there were a few minor differences. He was for one thing more willing to scout ahead without a care for what he might discover, despite being armed with only a sword.

"Nothing up here but a whole lot of nothing and a big ol' eye in the wall," he called down to me from the northern part of the room. "Oh, and a door, but it's locked tight."

I joined him, seeing what he meant. It wasn't an eye decorating a wall, it was actually a protruding carved eye.

"I've heard about this," Ezlo said. "The Wind Tribe devised intricate mechanisms that would force one to utilize their technology in some way to progress. In the early days of Hyrule, they held the most advanced technology – even if it was just a bow. Shame we don't have one."

"What?" Link's voice came from nowhere, sounding surprised and startling the lot of us. "Did you miss something?"

"You tell me, you're the one who arranged all this," I replied.

There was silence for a few moments, then, "You got all three switches back in the swamp, didn't you?"

"I got one of them. Dark got the other two."

"Dark?" Link sounded surprised again. "Damn. That explains it. I'm going to borrow your red friend from you for a few minutes. Hold tight there."

Red looked puzzled, then curious, and then finally nodded to me and darted back out again. We heard his retreating footsteps on the floor below, along with the shout of, "Back in a few, don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Just who is he, Manic?" Ezlo asked after the sounds of Red's departure faded. "Link I mean."

"We've gone over this before, Ezlo," I sighed, though more to make sure Link's attention was focused on Red instead of me. "Since he isn't listening though... he's a God, and the one who arranges for people like me to turn up when you need a Hero."

"Manic!" Link's voice exclaimed.

"Oh, are you still here?" I said pleasantly. "I thought you were busy nudging things along – you know, the way you insisted you didn't want to do."

"You're not supposed to just... blurt it out like that!" he protested.

"Why not? You didn't say there was a rule against it, did you?"

There was a pause again. "And even if there was, you'd ignore it wouldn't you?" he said flatly.

"Astonishing," I said in mock amazement. "How do you do it? It's like you know me."

"It's a gift," he replied drily. "Do you even know how much trouble you're going to cause if word gets out about me? I'm only a God because otherwise I'd never be able to arrange for you people to turn up you know."

"What would you be otherwise?"

"A very unusual immortal," Link replied. "You really don't want to know the difference. Take it from me, immortals and godhood aren't as simple as they sound, and they're definitely not all they're cracked up to be. I'm going this time – really going this time – because he's on his way back with a bow and arrows for you, and I want to have words with that damn blockhead who looks like you. He's disrupting things that are supposed to happen and are making me have to intervene, and I hate having to explain to the others when this happens."

Ezlo and I waited patiently for a few moments, then he quietly observed, "Being a God definitely has its own share of troubles. I think I'm glad I'm not one of them if that's the sort of thing he has a put up with."


	21. Thieves in the Fortress

The bow Red returned with was a clearly altered shortbow, as if Link had made it so I'd be better able to use it – something which immediately caused a bit of an argument with Ezlo.

"Just how can you tell the difference?" he asked.

"I've stolen a few before, and I've even sold a few on – for the right price," I replied, while Red took aim. I've never used one,so I kind of hoped he'd get it right.

"That hardly makes you an expert on bows, Manic," Ezlo told me.

"I'm not saying I am, but if you're going to sell something up, sell it for something more than it actually is, you have to sound as if you do, and in order to do that, a little basic knowledge comes in helpful. I know things about all kinds of things I'm probably never going to use myself, but had to know so I could get rid of them again."

"So you buy it for a little bit and tell them it's worth more? That's-"

"Immoral, we know," Red sighed. "Do you mind keeping your righteous indignation to yourself so I can concentrate? This isn't as easy as it looks."

"Want a hand?" I offered.

"You can have an arrow in a moment if you don't give me a chance," he told me irritably. Isn't he just as charming as I am?

He finally loosed the arrow, which managed to embed itself in the eye that in turn closed, breaking off all but the tip inside and opening the door beside it. This was immediately a problem as four more skeletons, attracted by the sounds of our presence, all ran from the room beyond to the doorway, only to stop being a problem when two of them got stuck in the doorway, bones entangled in each other. The other two milled around behind them.

Red again proved his difference by wordlessly taking the Pegasus Boots off me, then repeating our earlier trick by running into them, sending the bones scattering and clattering around both rooms in a matter of moments.

"It's all clear," his voice came back after a moment. "Nothing in here but them and a door. Shoulda nicked your shield do though," he added after a moment, wincing slightly as he touched a rib. "Slamming into them..." he shook his head, handing me back the boots as this time I poked my head into the next room.

"All quiet," I muttered to myself. "Looks like some dirt, and nothing else. Come on you, we'll find some more skeletons for you to play with," I told Red, heading in. The light faded somewhat here and out of a habit I slowed and started to move more silently. When the night is your natural ally, some habits get too deeply ingrained to just overlook.

Ezlo felt no such need to keep quiet however, his voice echoing around the narrow corridors the hard dirt formed.

"You're a dreadful person, Manic," he told me severely.

"You're only just realizing that?" I replied, unruffled. "I thought you managed to get over most of your issues with me, anyway."

"That was before we got the bow. How can you justify making something sound like something it isn't, just to swindle people?"

"The same way I justify making a statue of Zelda to fool Vaati into thinking its the real thing," I answered. "It does what I want it to, gives me something I want, things like that."

"It's taking advantage of people!"

"Yes, I do believe some people call it that."

Ezlo was left speechless there.

"What, you think he wouldn't admit it?" Red chuckled. "He knows what he is, Ezlo, same as I do. You're not gonna have much success reforming him. People have been trying for years. Manic, back here – there's a ladder just in here," he told me, pointing me past an opening I'd not checked.

"Give me a moment, I'm going to check what's ahead just in case," I replied, though all I really found were a few more rupees.

Upstairs was much the same as below with more dirt, but it was spread further apart instead of arranged in narrow corridors. There was still a considerable lack of light though, but having passed through below and allowing my eyes to adjust as we went, this was no problem for me.

"I can arrange for some light you know," Ezlo said. "Can't see my hand in front of my face. Or, you know. Whatever I have. My brim?"

"Your big beak?" Red suggested, and I quickly had to suppress the urge to laugh. I'd irritated him enough for now.

"Do you mind?" Ezlo demanded.

"Not really. Why, did you?"

Ezlo spluttered for a bit, but evidently decided to give up. One of me was bad enough – imagine what he had to put up with once there were four!

There was a light coming from a door frame ahead, illuminating a ChuChu that was oddly purple, and turned into a mass of solid spikes when it got close to me. I left it with a bomb and then quickly retreated, blasting it apart instead and splattering the walls with its jelly, then moved on into the next room, lit up around the edges by some suspiciously lit up torches, burning merrily.

Ever noticed you don't see anyone come into these places before you, like the people who go around replacing the candles and stuff and lighting them for you?

It wasn't the brightest light, but it let me see that there was a _very_ deep pit below that was of course going to be a very bad idea to find out what the bottom of was like. Floating in the otherwise empty air were a series of moving platforms that would allow me to make my way, eventually, from this ledge to one opposite where there was a locked door with two eye switches, one on either side, or head to the east, which was exactly the same.

Red, still armed with the bow, shot the two eyes opposite us to open the door even while I started across the platforms, then he started to follow. I waited for him to catch up by the door – except there was something clicking, and as he caught up the door closed again, the two switches spitting out the tips of the arrows.

Red immediately headed back, not needing any words to know what I had in mind now. He shot another pair of arrows and I listened intently at the frame, waving Ezlo into silence until I found a panel I tore off to reveal a mechanism – which stopped working when I pulled out a variety of cogs. The door no longer closed itself.

Beyond were two large stone statues which, like the small metal ones outside, had only a single eye. Unlike those previous statues, they didn't appear to be mechanical as such, nor were they armed, and a quick look behind revealed they didn't have a power gem either.

The only other things of note were two switches right in front of them. The two of us weighted them down, causing the statues to 'wake up' – though this just meant the eyes opened, and they slowly started to hop towards us with a crunch of stone.

It was immediately clear exactly how we were supposed to deal with these things. Eye opens, the only bit of them that's not stone – it's pretty easy to figure out. Red must have too, as he quickly started shooting arrows at the nearest one, while I kept the other one busy following me.

They didn't appear to be able to hop towards us and turn at the same time, so it was fairly easy to stay safe simply by constantly circling them. I had to stop once Red finished off his statue, after shooting the eye only three times, then I just led it back toward him while he repeated.

"Someone oughta tell Link these guys aren't really challenging," Red observed. "Least once you figure out what you gotta do to 'em."

"Not my choice," Link's voice murmured, though it could have been my imagination since the louder sound of a key fragment dropping also echoed around the chamber. I now had the first piece of the boss door key, given to me for only a few moments easy work.

"If it's all the same to you, I don't mind it," I said after retrieving it. "Let us save our strength for the boss later, and for more evil plots against Vaati."

"We're the good guys, we're not allowed to plot evil stuff," Red protested.

"Better we do than Vaati does," Ezlo said. "Are you boys going to stand around all day or are you going to actually move on? You _did_ say we were on a schedule, Manic."

"Yeah, I know, but we're way ahead of Vaati. As long as we don't slack off too much, he's as good as beaten already."

Unsurprisingly, we headed east after I once again dismantled the mechanism that would have tried to close the door on us. I suppose we could have shot it from up close, or I could have retrieved Red and done it all myself, but for some reason it never occurred to me.

Light streamed into the next room from a crack in the ceiling, and then down through another gap in the floor which in turn showed the floors below where I'd earlier looked up to here. The place was oddly deserted, but also left us no means of progressing except for push on a large stone block with Red's assistance.

We shoved it aside only to find it was the same problem again, so after a quick look we pushed again, this time northwards instead of east, letting us reach the far side of the gap where the only thing to do was pull on a switch. Something ground away above, then through the crack something glinted brightly as it plummeted all the way down. After a moment there was a metallic tinkling sound.

"A key?" Ezlo suggested. "If it is, we'd better go after it before something happens to it. Wouldn't want to have you to steal it off someone else."

"Please! No one steals from me."

"Bet?" Red said, grinning as he held up the Boomerang.

"Oh, gods," Ezlo sighed despairingly.

Without missing a beat, Link's voice said, "I'm a little busy right now, but Manic can take messages for me."


	22. Fortress Westside

Once we trekked all the way back down to retrieve the small key, we headed over to the next door over, immediately opposite the entrance. Like the other door, the initial area was empty with only stairs opposite, though this time lacking the sunlit hole leading up.

The sounds of more skeletons came to us before we'd even entered the room above, and as we quietly quietly edged into view so too did four skeletons. This time, Red borrowed my shield before he rushed the first of them, while I handled the further and distracted ones before they had the chance to make for him.

Once they'd all been shattered we took stock of the room, finding two more stone statues blocking the way ahead on either side of the north wall, and another door leading southwards, which we ignored.

I shot the eye of the first statue, having retrieved the bow when Red took my shield and found that having had to learn a bit to sell these things meant it wasn't actually that hard, and having watched him shoot it a few times only made it easier.

We didn't bother with the other statue, heading up behind to find two doors and some stairs leading into a small room above the stairs we'd taken before. Red again went ahead to look about up there, where there was a creak of a chest.

Ezlo and I meanwhile regarded the two locked doors, both with keyholes.

"I suppose if we really wanted you could open both of them," Ezlo said reluctantly. "They probably both lead to the same place anyway."

"That's not very sound thinking, Ezlo," I told him. "If someone's taken the trouble to lock two doors side by side, they must have had a reason. If they just wanted to block the way through, there's other ways – like pulling down a wall."

"So which way do we go then?"

"Left," Red's voice came as he meandered down the steps, busy looking at a roll of parchment. "Chest up there held the map. Looking at it there's not really that much difference, but we got the key from the left side, so we might as well use it on the left door. There's probably another key on the right, we can use that for the other door."

Before I opened the door I got a good look at the map, again committing it to memory. If Red wanted to keep it to hand he was welcome to, not that he really needed it any more than I did.

As soon as I'd unlocked – actually unlocked this time, using the key – the door and gone through it was clear that Ezlo had been right – to a point. Both doors led to this room, but a wire fence stretched down the middle that blocked us from reaching one side from the other.

To further complicate matters much of the room's floor was another pit, and only one moving platform on either side allowed us to reach the far end. Various pillars stretched down from the ceiling to what may once have been the floor, ensuring that a normally simple trip across would mean the two of us would have to constantly keep moving to avoid getting shoved off the small platform.

While we crossed, keeping an eye on the path ahead so we could pass the pillars, we also paid attention to the other side – which was much the same, and so since we knew the pattern ahead of time when we got there, it'd save us a few moments. Just in case anything happened.

We headed west at the far side as it was the only way to go, leading to a smaller room with yet another pit separating us from the other side, and this time no platform to cross on. There were, however, two eye switches on either side of the door that caused a mechanical rumbling, then a ladder to drop down and cross the pit. Red quickly scampered on ahead, paying no attention to the fact that one slip or misstep would make him fall, then as soon as he was off the other side and back to scouting ahead, I followed suit.

"Be _careful_!" Ezlo exclaimed. "Gods, how can you do this?"

"This? This is nothing," I told him. "Stuff like this is second nature to me. Once stole a diamond about the size of my fist from the royal treasury of this desert city. It was guarded of course, but they had guards _outside_ the vault, and the vault had skylights in. I used ropes and ladders and the city itself to make my way over the streets and rooftops, just so I could get to the palace's roof without getting caught. People noticed me of course, but no one can keep up with me on a rope or something similar."

Red, during my little tale, had been poking around in the room ahead, but as I finished he'd headed for what looked like a southern door, and as he did so both it and the one I was about to go through slammed shut, locking us out.

"Manic-" Ezlo started, but broke off. I listened at the door, hearing sounds of a metal on metal and a few muffled remarks Red apparently made to whatever he was fighting. Despite knowing that he was me, I couldn't help but worry somewhat about him. He had only the Pegasus Boots, a sword and a shield, and if whatever he was facing needed something I still had like the bow...

There was a louder clang that reminded me of the battle with the Darknut back in Castor Wilds, then after a few more moments then door retracted again, revealing, yes, the armour of a Darknut, the blue portal in the floor, and my red counterpart breathing hard.

"That was fun," he remarked. "Think I'd better stick back with you though. On my own wasn't nearly as good as with you."

"You know, in a way I almost think I prefer doing these places on my own, the way I did the other two," I mused. "If it wasn't for the novelty of having two of me around-"

"Novelty?" Ezlo spluttered. "This is a novelty? I'm half amazed you haven't started stealing everything you can yet!"

"Don't tempt us," Red grinned at him.

South of the room he'd defeated the Darknut in was a similar one, except once again with a pit. This time it was in the centre with four blade traps patrolling the ring of ground around the edges. Rather than simply follow them patiently, Red helped me leap over the nearest pair, getting out of the way of the traps as he did so, allowing me to reach a switch along one side and take a running leap over the second pair. The door in the south wall unlocked and the two of us met up again unharmed in far less time than if we'd plodded around in circles a few times.

This left us on a ledge overlooking the room where the four skeletons had caught in the doorway when trying to reach us, their bones still scattered around the room. The ledge continued on to overlook where we'd waited for Red to return with the bow, and I felt a faint breeze as we passed a section of wall.

Red, interestingly enough, didn't appear to notice. Normally I wouldn't have even paid it any attention myself, but all throughout the Fortress of Winds, I hadn't felt the air stir at all. Which meant something was behind there.

They humoured me as I listened and tapped at various stones, then waved them back a bit and set a bomb down. It blasted the wall and debris, though mostly into the hole it had opened instead of at us, revealing a hidden area beyond.

This place was almost completely filled with the hard packed dirt, and was only lit up by a tiny crack in the ceiling letting in sunlight. It illuminated the lone chest in here, a large chest that held a large pair of claws that had clearly been designed to slip easily over my own hands.

"Now that's a coincidence that has to be his doing," Ezlo said. "All this dirt around and you get claws like those? They look almost as if they were made for digging with."

"Probably they were," I said, half to myself as I glanced to the dirt nearby.

It took me a few attempts to get into a proper rhythm with them, but once I did I found they were enormously effective. Granted, I ended up leaving now loose dirt everywhere, but in doing so I managed to uncover a chest that had been hidden in there, containing a whole hundred rupees.

"Imagine the things we might uncover with these," Red suggested once we were back following the ledge again, which only led us back to the two doors – one of which still needed a key.

"I was thinking of the ways I could get to stuff with them," I said with a sly look Ezlo couldn't see. Red caught on immediately.

"No one would expect to be robbed from below the ground," he laughed.

"Don't you ever stop thinking about that?" Ezlo grumbled.

Red and I shared another look, then looked to him.

"That's what I thought," he muttered.

The first thing I decided to do before anything else was to invade the west part of the Fortress, the part I'd already been to, and uncover any more hidden treasures in the dirt there. Aside from one concealed switch that caused a chest to appear, there were no such treasures to be found, and even then the chest just contained rupees.

In digging out the entrance chamber though, when I dug west I found a buried door further west to the one I'd used. I knew it was there because of the map of course, but I didn't really think about the map unless I needed to know where else to go.

At first glance this room was empty but for the four torches in the corners, but something didn't feel right. There was a trap here waiting to be triggered, and I knew it was here somewhere. Annoyingly though, the trap was not one subject to being disarmed, as it triggered only after Red left the doorway to come search with me. It slammed shut, the four torches flared and fired balls of light at us, and two figures concealed in voluminous green robes flickered into existence – though their robes couldn't conceal their distinctly mouse-like noses.

Red lunged for one of them as it raised its arms, just as I did the same for the other. We each scored a few blows before they faded away again and we had to duck under several of the light balls, then the two figures reappeared in different parts of the room.

This time our attacks finished them, making the torches settle again and a chest deposit... more rupees.

"All that just to protect a bit of money? I'm starting to think I should just ignore all but the larger chests," I complained.


	23. Fortress Eastside

Since we'd cleared out the west side of the Fortress, the next stop was of course the eastern side. In the entrance chamber there were two routes north left to take, the farthest one leading to a blocked off side of a partly collapsed room that didn't even hold anything worthwhile anyway.

The other one first looked like a mirror image of the other side, empty but for the stairs and the hole in the ceiling. I had a suspicion at the top I'd find another key would fall down here for the other of those two locked doors.

Up one floor, a couple of chests had rupees, each guarded by an apparently inanimate skeleton – until we got close to it. Since the dead seem to have trouble pulling themselves together, beating a few bones off them means they're far too easy to be anything to worry about.

There were also two switches in the walls here, and only one of them probably triggered the southern door – unless we were both supposed to use them. Red and I both heaved on one each, one causing the door to open, the other dropping a mass of snakes into the room. Somehow I managed to avoid getting attacked by them as I made for the door. Red didn't make it so easily, however.

"I swear they go for me before you," he muttered, then louder, "Looks like this is more fun for you – just think what you won't find in all this dirt."

"Just because there wasn't any thing on the west side doesn't mean there isn't here," I replied, starting to dig out the dirt in this new room, in the process uncovering another ChuChu that turned into solid spikes – Red quickly dealt with that while I carried on – a chest of, yes, more rupees, and another ladder leading upwards.

"Is there a reason why these places have so many rupees in Link?" I called out.

"Of course. I thought you knew I was going to try and stop you from having to steal all the time. There's another reason too, of course. I had plans for something called Kinstones, but I didn't actually get the time to finish it all before I needed you to arrive, and I already owe the Goddess of Time a few favours. I'm trying not to end up with more."

"What are Kinstones?"

"Little medallions," Ezlo explained. "The Minish made the originals a long time ago. They always come in halves, and if two people have the matching halves, they can fuse them to bring luck."

"Or whatever I needed to happen," Link added. "Like I said, I ran out of time though. Move, Manic, or you will too."

"That's alright, I'll just get the Goddess to lend a hand and make you owe Her another favour," I replied. Oddly enough, Link didn't reply. Can't think why.

Up the ladder was much the same story as below, another chest with yet more rupees. I made a mental note to myself then to find a convenient way to lose or spend them before I started on the next Element, just so I had an excuse to start stealing again.

While I'd been busy digging out the room, Red scouted ahead again, and once I joined him in the next chamber he gave me an idea of what he'd found.

"There's these two switches here, probably do the north door," he told me, gesturing to the locked door. "Through there, there's another of those metal statues. It's not active, but it's in the way of one of those pull back and go switches. I think I saw a portal through a gap in the back wall, but I can't see any way to reach it, so I figure there's probably one up ahead. Oh, and there was an active statue, but I shoved it down the hole in there," he added as an afterthought.

"Does it still work?" Ezlo asked him.

"Shouldn't think so, not with parts scattered all over the floor," Red shrugged. "Made an awful clanging sound when it hit. Surprised you two didn't hear it."

"Probably we did, but were too busy at the time," I said. "North it is then. You take that one, I'll take this one and lets see what's waiting to try and kill us _this_ time."

"Optimistic, aren't you?" Ezlo observed drily.

There wasn't actually anything waiting for us in the small room beyond, but there was a portal – and despite Ezlo's efforts, it didn't work.

"Maybe it's because of me?" Red suggested. He reached for my sword, flashing out of existence and forcing me to take a few disoriented moments to work through all the memories he'd just given me. The longer I left him separate for, the worse it always was, and when I got the others it didn't exactly get any easier.

Once I finally recovered, having winced back at the keen pain he'd felt when he slammed into the skeletons unprotected, recalled the fight with the Darknut he'd had to do on his own, and all the rest besides – including hearing what Link had said to him to get the bow – I got back up on the portal again.

Unsurprisingly, Ezlo's magic worked fine that time. It was an issue we faced too many times, I can only change size if all the duplicates of me have been recombined into me. I can't do it on my own.

I headed back to the room where Red's memories showed the two armoured statues, less the one he really had shoved down the hole, reactivated the remaining one and then headed through a crack in the wall to the portal he'd seen before. Fortunately once back to my own size there was a patch of wall I could push aside so I wouldn't have to walk all the way back.

I stole Red's idea for the statue, making it activate, approach me in its somewhat erratic way, then quickly darting around behind it and shoving it after its fellow. The metallic crash it gave was only made louder by the one that was already down there.

"You're a terrible person, you know," Ezlo remarked afterwards. "Someone worked hard to make those two incredibly complicated automata, and you just shoved them down there to smash into pieces."

"They're trying to hurt me Ezlo, I'd say that's fair justification," I replied.

"You can find an excuse for everything though."

"Are you only just now realizing that? I thought you knew already."

"Why me?" Ezlo grumbled, while I pulled the switch to cause the key to drop, as expected.

"Because you're the one who made the cap Vaati stole," Link answered him. "And because I said so, of course."

"You? I don't remember hearing from you before I met Manic."

"I know, but if I hadn't nudged you, would you really have gone into the Minish Woods, knowing there were monsters there? I had to nudge you in the right direction, otherwise Vaati would have used his own magic to stop Manic from being a threat."

"You – you're-" Ezlo started, then got hold of himself. "You're almost as bad as Manic is, d'ya hear?"

"I know," Link accepted the remark, almost as well as I would have.

I backtracked all the way to the two doors and unlocked the other one, using both sets of memories of having watched the platform on this side so I could make it across without needing to hesitate once. It was a little weird remembering it from two separate points of view, and stranger still every time I remembered Red looking at me, but I adapt quickly. It didn't take too long to get used to that, at least.

Before I'd even got off at the end I'd heard sounds of activity from up ahead, and though I swear Red had given me his impulsive want to just go ahead and rush into whatever was there, I suppressed it and looked warily round the corner, fully aware of how ridiculous it looked once Ezlo followed suit.

There was a large chamber ahead with three giant hands, all black with a blue glow, walking around using their fingers.

"Floormasters," Ezlo murmured. "They'll try to grab you, and if they do, who knows where they'll take you to?"

"Me," Link answered immediately

"Well of course you, but you're hardly going to tell us, are you?"

"Why not? They'll take you back to where you entered the Fortress, that's all. It's inconvenient by itself, but given that it'll also regenerate the monsters you've defeated throughout the place too, it's annoying. I'm not sure if I'll keep that second bit though – it might be a bit much. You could say you're helping me trial it."

"Not if I can help it," I muttered, taking out the bow. Since the hands had no eyes, they might be able to tell what direction the arrow had come from, but if I kept moving silently, they'd get there only to find I'd gone.

It worked perfectly, three arrows needed for each of them to defeat them, along with a red one Link helpfully identified as a Wallmaster, which I also shot off the ceiling.

"Show off," Link told me afterwards, while a new portal appeared in the middle of the room. I left it for the moment since it appeared to have no immediate purpose and moved on ahead. The next room appeared first to be only a narrow corridor, and I soon noticed a small hole that led through to another area. I wasn't sure yet if I'd need it, so carried on to the real room to the south, where two large logs covered in spikes made an otherwise simple area just a bit more tricky.

Whoever had designed it had included several small holes in the ground that looked easy to curl up in to avoid them as they passed overhead. I suppose if I wanted I could have jumped them, but I decided this time to play it safe instead. For some reason, I only ever felt the urge to show off at times like that if I had one of the others present.

Since the south door was locked off, the only way I could go was up to the north on the other side of the room. Once clear of the spiked logs, there were four switches – even if I pulled Red out again, I couldn't trigger them all just yet.

Up at the top of the room however, in the area I'd seen a tiny bit of through the Minish sized tunnel, were two large statues, much like ones I'd seen back in Deepwood Shrine. I brought Red back out there, having him haul one of them after me, while I shoved the other ahead. We weighed down two of the switches, stood on the other two and got the key we needed to progress.

This put us up on a ledge, much like the other side, which ultimately led to the same area. However, where on the west side there had been the bombable wall, here there was a Minish sized hole. There was a portal down some nearby steps, but there was no way I was going to be able to climb back up as a Minish.

This effectively forced me to retrieve Red yet again, trek all the way back up to the earlier portal, then make the even longer trek back down, past the spike logs – even easier to pass as a Minish, since I could just walk where the spikes weren't – and back down to the hole.

On the other side was another room filled with dirt, along with a portal and a floor switch. Restoring my size and triggering it caused something metallic to clink faintly somewhere beyond the dirt, so naturally I dug it all out. The only thing I found though was the small key that had been the source of the clink.

I had to shrink back down again to leave, and even then carefully make my way down the seemingly giant stairs so as not to injure myself. As soon as I'd looked out I found two more Floormasters, which ignored me until I started shooting them too.

Once they were out the way I found, yes, yet another dirt filled chamber. I liked these claws, or the Mole Mitts as Ezlo insisted on calling them, but the novelty wears off rather quickly when you have to use them constantly.

Digging out this room turned up three armoured snake like creatures Ezlo identified as Moldorms and yet another ladder, leading up to a room with no dirt and just a door leading me north, through an empty room to the locked door I used my only small key on, and into a room with two holes in the floor, each leading down to a different part of the floor below. One side would put me next to what appeared to be the next piece of the Boss key, the other would deny me that access. Needless to say, I chose right.

A quick look at the map told me that all that was left was to make the last trek to the Boss door itself, reassemble the key and challenge whatever was left lying in wait for me. And maybe Vaati would put in another appearance, as he had up at the mines.


	24. Mechanical Mayhem

I knew already exactly how to reach the boss door – there was after all only one way I hadn't gone, and only a couple of rooms following it. It was a relatively simple matter to return to the two-locked door room, where the skeletons were back wandering around once again, though I noticed a few arm and leg bones that hadn't been put in the right places. Someone had come along and reanimated these, someone without a very good grasp of anatomy.

"Manic," Ezlo murmured before we got into their sight. "What do you think would happen if you used the cane on them?"

After a few moments to consider it I replied, "That's a thought more worthy of me than you, Ezlo."

"I thought you might appreciate it," he agreed. "Want to find out?"

I had a few ideas of what might happen, but what actually happened was absolutely perfect. As I had before I gave the Cane of Pacci my usual somewhat half-hearted wave at each of the skeletons, sending the small ball of off-yellow light at each of them. When it collided with one of them the light flickered over several bones, then picked up their skulls and dropped them on the ground nearby.

The resulting headless skeletons wandered around aimlessly, often banging into things. Two managed to get their ribcages caught in each other, while a third clattered and rattled as it slipped and fell down the nearby steps. The fourth managed to find a skull on the ground and placed it on its head, backwards, but one of the two entangled skeletons was the one who reacted, the skull suddenly turning to look and the jaws chattering, as if trying to tell the skeleton it was on where to go.

I left them to play and try and disentangle each other, completely ignored as I headed through this time, heading for the previously untouched south door of the room. In keeping with those rooms on either side of it, there was dirt here, but not nearly as much. I dug out a ladder, headed upstairs and through another dirt room to meet the boss door, where a tile in the floor automatically triggered to give me the red portal.

It didn't take me long to get through the door, though since here I'd collected key parts instead of lock parts, I realized I could have just picked the lock. Maybe Link thought I was getting into the habit of not doing that though.

Beyond was a large chamber, two Minish portals in the far two corners, some pots in the nearest two, here and there evidence that one or two others had got this far, and right opposite me a great gilded statue head on a golden pedestal. It looked like the kind of golden mask you'd expect to see on a sarcophagus, a highly stylized face with decorative designs on it. Between the designs was painted, on the left – my left that is – in red, on the right, in blue.

As I watched, the head's designs glowed bright green, then lifted up off the pedestal – which in turn split apart and formed upward into two great hands in matching colours, each one with an oddly organic looking pink eye watching me from the palms.

* * *

"I know that thing!" Sonic exclaimed suddenly. "That's Gohdan! You had to shoot the eyes, right?"

"Mostly," Manic replied. "Don't get ahead of me. Anyway, it's called Mazaal. That's what Ezlo called it just before we attacked it, anyway."

"Gohdan, Mazaal, the both look the same when you've bashed them to bits," he said dismissively.

"Sometimes I wonder if there isn't a bit of Knuckles in you," Tails observed with a wince at 'bashed'. "They were both probably incredibly complex machines, you know."

"I guess I'd better not tell you what I did to Koloktos then," Knuckles said with a sly look.

"Seriously, am I the only Hero who cared about the technical stuff?" Tails asked plaintively.

"There's a certain amount of justification, Tails," Silver told him. "You can't deny that. Go on Manic. We won't interrupt any more – will we?" he asked, looking up with an arch look.

* * *

Mazaal, as Ezlo quickly told me, was a creation of the Wind Tribe that had once lived in the Fortress of Winds – though as we saw, evidently not any more. Something I should have noticed and put together with Vaati's earlier warning about a disappointment, but somehow failed to do.

While he could probably have told me plenty about the Wind Tribe, he couldn't tell me any more than Mazaal's name and that, obviously, it was here as a guardian.

That being said, you don't need to be a genius to figure this thing out. The pink eyes were obvious targets, and the bow the obvious weapon against them. The red hand flew for me, but no one catches a nimble thief like me that easily and I quickly evaded it as it slapped down on the ground.

Within a few moments I'd loosed three arrows for the blue hand's eye, which was already dropping and with it bringing the hand to the ground. I made a dash for it and stabbed it with the sword as soon as I could, destroying it – then ducking between two massive fingers as the red hand, bunched up as a fist, attempted to slam down on me again.

Once behind the hand I climbed the fingers, leaping up on to the red hand from there. While the eye on the hand couldn't see me, the main head could – but appeared, for now, unable to do anything about me directly. The hand tried to throw me off, so I slipped down on purpose to slash the sword on my way past. The hand tried to close around me, but hadn't reacted quick enough. The hand crashed down to the ground with the pink eye hanging limply. Several more blows quickly finished it off, causing the main head itself to hit the ground with an earth-shattering crash.

For a moment I couldn't quite see what to do next – I hardly expected this to be all there was, after all – but then I spotted it, like on the metal statues, a small hole in the base of the head, artfully worked in to appear to be part of the designs.

I wasn't sure how long it was out for, so I put out the kind of quick dash I usually reserve for running away from threats I'd really rather didn't manage to catch me, aiming for the nearest portal. Ezlo was already muttering the words that would shrink us down to Minish size, allowing me to effectively dive into the portal and dart out again in a matter of moments.

Pegasus Boots once again diminished an otherwise long trip, though thankfully the floor was even enough to make it easy to run for the small opening that lead inside the golden statue. I half expected to find a second, miniature dungeon in here, but it wasn't the case.

Inside, in the midst of the great gold and green metals that made up this single interior chamber, there were six tall supporting statues – one of which with an eye in the base. Once again I needed no prompting to start hacking away at it, every blow causing the entire structure to shake violently.

Unexpectedly the pillar exploded, throwing me back from it, and with it I felt the sense of movement that told me the head was back in the air again. The back wall of this room rumbled, shaking down to allow a sudden powerful blast of air to throw me out.

Back outside, the two hands were back in action again, their eyes searching – but not good enough to detect a Minish. While this small I had the time I needed to prepare myself, but lacked the ability to fight back.

The hands did notice me as I emerged from the portal, normal-sized, this time the blue one that made to try and grab me. The metal fingers clanged against each other harmlessly above me, as I'd expected something like this to happen and planned accordingly, ducking under the red hand with the bow ready in advance. The pink eye set in it jerked down just in time to see the arrow heading for it, stunning it and bringing the hand crashing down yet again. Three swift blows from the sword destroyed it again, once again allowing me to turn my attention to the blue hand.

Following its miss, it had floated back to the blue side of the head, the pink eye watching me warily. I drew the bow, and this time with some sense it closed, hidden behind an eyelid of the same green metal that made up much of Mazaal.

With the main head itself fully aware of me there was nothing I could do to hide what I was doing – except by making use of the inanimate hand nearby. I used it as cover, keeping myself out of sight, while also keeping my aim on the still-closed eye. Finally Mazaal grew impatient and re-opened the eye to see what I was doing, and the blue hand took an arrow to the eye.

Within a few short moments I'd again destroyed that hand's eye and darted for the other portal this time, not needing to pause to see what I needed to do this time. Back inside the head now there was a mass of dirt blocking my way – but with the Mole Mitts, this was hardly an issue. I knew roughly where the pillars would be, and I had noticed before that the key pillar not only had the eye in, but glowing designs around its base. I dug furiously to find the pillar, naturally the one right at the back and off to one side, and rather than fall back to the sword I used the claws themselves, as if I was trying to carve the eye out of the pillar.

Again the back wall shuddered down, this time using water to wash me out along with the dirt, littering the floor with chunks of sodden mud which would have inconvenience anyone not adept at rough terrain – or rooftops. It'd slow me down a little on my next trek in, but hardly enough to make a difference.

One more time I deftly evaded and shot down the two hands, evading a new attack Mazaal had picked up where it fired a laser-like beam from its eyes at me. As I had in the previous round, I simply used a disabled hand as cover, all the while watching the other hand in case it took advantage of the situation.

This time the light inside Mazaal, which had seemed to come from everywhere at once before, was not present. The darkness made it harder to tell what I was doing, but I'm just as good in the dark as I am in the light, listening intently. I found more dirt again, made a guess based on the small light from outside and dug, taking care to strike at the sides to find the pillars. Twice while digging I heard the metal clink as I caught a pillar, but not one with an eye. The third pillar was true though, and again I slashed away with the claws.

One more time I was washed out with the dirt, along with muttered comments about having been made wet again – comments that would soon become a thing of the past, as it happened – and even as a Minish I could tell the great head and hands were, in the manner of almost all defeated bosses, starting to explode.

I took shelter in one of the portals, telling Ezlo not to restore our size just yet. Sure enough, after several great detonations, there was a long chain of clinks and crashes as the mechanics of Mazaal were flung around the room.

Only once I'd heard the tiny, teaspoon rattle that always marks the end of such things did I emerge, full sized. The green portal was present, and but for a few last pieces here and there, Mazaal was gone, but there was no Wind Element – only stairs leading outside to the top of the Fortress, stairs that had been hidden before by Mazaal's massive head.


	25. Book Hunt

The stairs revealed by Mazaal's defeat led me back outside on top of the Fortress of Winds, an overgrown area punctuated by wild bushes and crumbling ruins. By the looks of it, this had once been a kind of rooftop garden, long since abandoned.

Against the elements the area was exposed to however, a tall stone like the one I'd seen back in the Elemental Sanctuary stood on its own, the glyphs carved into it as fresh as the day it had been put there. Again I had to have Ezlo translate, as it was written in the more formal, older Hylian dialect.

"'We are the Tribe of the Winds'," he read out, evidently having no trouble with this himself. "'Long have we lived with the winds, learning them, mastering them. Now we join them, and with the great winds at our backs we head for the skies. Those who come seeking our power must find the way hidden beyond the veil, the way that opens only for he who wields the same blade thrice.'"

"Sounds like the Wind Element is beyond our reach then," I said. "It definitely means me, but I need another Element before I can split into three of me."

"At least it means Vaati can't get his hands on it either," Ezlo replied. "This must have been the disappointment he was talking about. We'll have to go for the fourth Element, and that one... it's marked on your map up at Lake Hylia, but I've never heard of any dungeon or temple over there."

"That's 'cause it didn't exist until I got here, remember? Link oughta take a few lessons from me about the details, or any Hero after me will notice the same sorta thing."

Which he did, obviously.

"Back to town anyway, Manic," Ezlo told me. "I think I know someone who should be able to help us. We need to get wet anyway, and he'll be able to help you with your swimming problem at least."

That set off an argument that lasted us all the way back out of the Fortress.

* * *

Thanks to my good memory, we made it back out of Castor Wilds and back to town long before the sun set, as it was definitely getting late now. The guards gave me a suffering kind of look as they let me in, probably after how I'd treated them earlier, then after I'd passed they closed the gates.

"Inconvenient," Ezlo murmured.

"Not really. I can still think of at least three ways out, only one of which gets us noticed. We don't really have any reason to though, you said this helpful person is here somewhere, and we ought to get some rest anyway. Three places in one day and a lotta fighting, even a Hero's gotta rest sometime you know."

"There's a hotel over by the east gate," he supplied. "That is of course if it's not unethical to pay for a room," he added.

"Nah, I need to get rid of all the rupees Link gave me back at the Fortress anyway. The stores are all probably closed for the night, but in the morning we'll restock on bombs and arrows, 'cause we've gone through a lot, make sure we get something to eat, then go see your friend."

The hotel was the Happy Hearth, and I noticed that despite whatever was going around about me, the staff paid me no attention whatsoever. I had to rap hard on the counter to get the attention of the receptionist, who in turn had to lean over to see me.

"Are you lost, child?" she asked in that insufferable condescending tone some people take with the young.

I gave her a frosty look until her broad smile had faded somewhat, then finally answered, "I want a room for the night."

"Are your parents-" she started, but was cut off by a raised hand – probably because it had a silver rupee in it. One of the ones worth a whole hundred. "I'm not sure we have a room free-" she tried again, stopping when several more rupees, equating to another two silver rupees, were put on the counter.

"A room for the night," I told her again. "This _is_ a hotel, isn't it? Somewhere people get a place to stay?"

"I'll just... see if we have any vacancies," she trailed off, staring at the collection of rupees. She looked almost as if she had to tear herself away from them. After a few moments she beckoned one of the other staff close, held a whispered conversation that consisted of telling him not to argue and to take me up to a suite normally used for visiting dignitaries, then finally handed me a key and gestured for me to follow him.

The suite was, if at all possible, even more richly furnished than Hyrule Castle had been, and the bed had enough room for several of me – something I did consider for a while.

"You paid them too much, you know," Ezlo said.

"So what? Money is no object, not when you're dealing with me. Link was generous with his gifts, so I'm spreading it around. What do I need them for when I can just get more?"

"What if you run our, want something and don't want to get noticed?"

"Are you kidding me? I _never_ get noticed. Don't worry, Ezlo – I've got it all covered. Now go to sleep, will you?"

He didn't protest, but he did snore. Which he stopped after I hit him with a pillow. Several times in the night, since if a thief wants to stay a good, and live, thief, sleeping light is a requirement. As a result I felt fine come morning, but Ezlo didn't seem to have appreciated my response to his midnight concert.

The Hotel did not do breakfast, which in my experience is unusual. It didn't do any meals at all, as it happened, so I was obliged to leave to find something to eat. One of the regular places many locals went to get something to eat was a bakery, something that also got Ezlo's attention. While others clustered in the bakery, waiting for a chance to pay for something, I quietly fell back on old habits and snuck a pie.

"I don't believe you just did that," Ezlo said, not needing to worry about being overheard with no children around. "You're on about paying for stuff and you steal it anyway? Can't you just keep your bad habits to yourself and-" he stopped, mostly because I'd stolen another pie. He looked shocked, or at least as much as a hat can, then once outside I held out the second one for him.

"Of course, if you don't want it-" I started, but had to stop as he quickly took it off me. I'd teach him to accept me yet, even if I had to bribe him with food to do it. "Where do we find your friend?"

"Library," he mumbled around a mouthful of crumbs.

That wasn't hard to find, having passed it on a regular basis, and twice during the time I gave the guards some good exercise. It wasn't apparently a place the locals visited often, being the kind of place that was given over to the sounds of hushed voices and crackling pages.

I noticed as soon as I came in that the two women on the desks were very different. One of them seemed resigned, and by the sign on her desk I guessed this was because people generally didn't return books very often. The other was bright and happy – probably because it wasn't her problem.

Neither seemed to worry about my presence as I appeared to browse the books, not yet knowing what I was looking for until Ezlo finally finished his pie.

"Upstairs," he told me. "The local Elder made a home for himself inside a book no one's ever even taken off the shelf, and some of the other books the Minish have carefully made work as ladders. Of course, that only works if no one checks out the books with the ladders in the spines," he added.

Naturally, someone had. When we found the book the Elder lived in – 'Ann History of Skyelofte' – I also saw where some of the ladder-books were, and where three were not. Without them, there was no way for anyone Minish-sized to reach him.

Back downstairs I went to the long-suffering returns woman and asked about them.

"The books missing upstairs?" she said thoughtfully. "Yes, they've been checked out for quite a while – they're very overdue."

"What books aren't?" the other woman muttered, just loud enough to be heard and just loud enough to earn a Look from her.

"I've got an interest in them, but I don't need to actually take them with me," I said casually. "I don't mind going and helping get them back for you."

"If you can even find out who some of the people are. My learned colleague-" who got another look from her. "-has a tendency to be rather unspecific about the people who take them out. Take 'A Hyrulean Bestiary' for example. Checked out by, and I quote the records here, 'A girl with a cat'."

"Well, it's true," the other woman said primly. "It described her perfectly."

I left the two to bicker over that point. I knew of only two places there were cats in town. One was the cattery, not far from the river which looked after stray cats, the other place was a house I'd seen in passing, noticing a girl playing with a cat. Since the cats at the cattery weren't owned by anyone in particular, I made use of this helpful little nugget my keen observation provided, and tracked her down.

She wasn't home when I knocked, though her white cat was, sat sedately in the window watching people go by. A handwritten note on her door told me she was next door, and to call on her there if she was needed.

Before I did that however I peered through the windows, which the cat apparently found entertaining. Either that or I was. I made out several tiny tell-tale marks that suggested there were Minish also in residence, and a large leather-bound red book on a high shelf, but more importantly to me at least, a key hanging by the back door.

Back doors aren't used very often in Hyrule, not least because the gardens behind their houses don't just belong to them – they're communal property. Even so, they're still behind thick hedges that afford some privacy, and despite a look of disapproval from Ezlo, I picked the lock on the girl's back door, scrambled easily over the furniture to retrieve the book, then let myself out again – taking note of the shape of the key, because if you know what the key looks like, you can tell a lot about a lock – enough to pick it a second time and lock it again. She might miss the book, but then she knew where she'd gotten it from and would no doubt check the library for it again. As long as she waited for me to finish up with the Elder.

The librarian handling returns looked up with some surprise as I returned and set the book down in front of her. The other librarian looked amused, but said nothing.

"Next?" I asked simply.

"Ah... the next missing book from those shelves is... 'Legends of the Picori'. Checked out by-" another look to the other librarian. "An 'absent-minded scholar with weird hair'."

"It looks like he's growing bushes on his head," the other librarian said. "Haven't seen him in a while either."

"You don't say? Maybe that's why the book hasn't been returned in forever?"

I once again left to the sounds of them arguing. Ezlo, I noted, was trying without much success to keep from laughing at them.

This one was trickier. While someone who's hair was that strange might be easier to find, I hadn't seen anyone like that in town at all. I was obliged to wander around, not appearing to have any point to my random-seeming meandering, but in actuality I covered almost every street in town, methodically glancing into every building as I passed and only rehashing a place I'd already been if it got me to somewhere I hadn't.

I found a number of places I considered making another visit to, maybe during the next night while Ezlo slept so I wouldn't disturb him or his sensibilities – at least until he found out – but I also found the person I was looking for, a certain Dr. Left (twin brother to one Mr. Wright), in a house not far from the western gate.

His house was tidy, but somewhat dusty, and had signs that he hadn't moved from the tome he was studying for some time. The door was unlocked but stuck, and when he mistook my attempts to open it as knocking, he told me to shove hard.

"I'm looking for a book you might have," I told him when I finally got in. "Legends of the Picori?"

He stared back blankly for a few moments, then his eyes lit up. "Oh, yes. I remember now. I saw it just a few days ago, but when I went looking for it later it had gone. Probably a mouse or something had taken it. I'm sure its here somewhere, I just don't know where. You're welcome to look for yourself though," he said with a vague gesture, already looking back to the tome.

Once again I spotted the signs of the Minish living here, but there was nowhere nearby I could use to shrink down to Minish-size. I told him I'd be back later, though I don't even think he noticed me leave, or even fight with his front door again, and went hunting either for a portal, or something I could use as one.

Fortunately I was in luck: a large garden in one corner of town had not one but four portals to choose from, all the remains of old trees that had had to be removed for one reason or another. Getting back through town was more of a challenge, having to constantly evade people, but keeping to the edge of paths made that easier to handle. Certainly more so with the Pegasus Boots, where due to uneven ground at one point I'd ended up flying, caught by someone's foot, and thrown into a tiny puddle – but still big enough and muddy enough to a Minish that I had to go grumbling to the river to clean up again.


	26. A Minish Adventure

When I was finally clean again, if dripping a little from the last of the water, I took care to get back to Dr. Left's house without having to make return journey to the river, and by the time I had I found a local Minish in blue waiting for me outside a normally tiny door beside the main one – and one that looked more well-used than the main one too.

"I heard you talking to him," she said as I approached, pointing out a foot that nearly caught me on the way. "You're the one Elder Librari spoke of, aren't you? The one restoring the Picori Sword."

"Yeah, I suppose I gotta admit to that one," I replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ezlo asked.

"Oh, it's one of those things you told me to keep to myself. A little rule that comes in useful – never admit to anything."

"Why am I not surprised?" he muttered to himself.

The Minish girl listened with amusement to that exchange, then told me, "The book you want is up in the rafters. Some of the Minish up there wanted to read what humans thought about us. Only Left moved a cabinet, and now no one can get back up there."

"You mean I've got to go all the way back to the portal, get back to normal, come back here, shift a cabinet, then do it all over again as a Minish so I can get up there?"

"Well, you could. But, you Heroes all like adventures, so if you don't mind going on one, there's another option. There's a treasure here in town that all the Minish talk about, and it's supposed to make it possible for even the littlest Minish to move huge things."

"That could come in useful later," Ezlo remarked. "We might as well take the time to retrieve it now – if it's true."

"Probably. Alright, what adventure do I have to go on?" I asked her.

"There's clues that'll lead you to it," she told me. "It goes like this: Cross the bridge that spans the rapid flow, through the land of the fearsome beasts until you reach the misty falls. The treasure sleeps on the other side of the secret entrance there. If the legend that goes with them is true, you start from this house and go through the fireplace – we know that one already, we've even rigged up a system that lets us put out any fire he lights there so it's safe for us."

"Is it safe right now?"

"Probably," she shrugged, letting us in through the tiny door. "It was when I left just now, anyway. Looks like it still is. I'd go with you, but I'm happy to stay here. Good luck!" she told me, then headed off to another small door that presumably led to where she lived.

Climbing up chimneys is not something new to me, though doing so as a Minish was. Their diligent, patient and careful work had seen a long ladder reach the whole way up and out on to the roof, where in turn I was able to reach a part of town on a higher level.

For once, the directions were neither cryptic or obscure, and having been around town enough by now to see practically all of it left me in no doubt as to where I had to go. The bridge mentioned was a thin, narrow plank of wood that crossed a river that flowed through town, put in place with a net underneath to catch debris and keep the water clean.

On the other side of the river I passed the cattery – which was the Minish's 'land of the fearsome beast' since the cats could see Minish and thought of them as toys, prey, or both. Here my own natural habits came to me, using the jungle of grass and plants to hide myself as I sneaked past the various cats, eventually allowing me to emerge through a narrow gap between two rocks and climb down a vine to a familiar place – the ornamental pond where I'd acquired a few things when I'd first arrived. Although not so noticeable to the human eye, from a Minish viewpoint the fountain that supplied was a waterfall that did in fact have a ring of mist around it – the 'misty falls'.

All I had to do then was make the long journey around the edge of the pond, trying to avoid falling off, a stray cat, and any humans who decided to perch on the edge of it, not realizing I was there. A small opening had been left in the wall by past Minish, opening into a clearly Minish-made cave.

"Who knew there was a place like this behind the town water pump?" Ezlo mused to himself. Someone coughed meaningfully. "Aside from you!" Ezlo snapped.

"The Minish?" I suggested, then seeing his reaction quickly added, "Never mind that now, lets get looking for this treasure of theirs. Though I don't think I'm going to be getting too far without getting wet again," I added, gesturing to the stream of water that ran through here, supplying the pond outside.

I had only two choices, if you discounted the water. Find out what lay north, or head through the door to the east. Since I heard no noises besides the water coming north, and I heard sounds of movement through the doorway, I headed east.

Here there were two red Mulldozers and a pair of spike traps protecting a hole in the ground. The Mulldozers didn't last too long, and triggering the spike traps gave me time enough to fill the hole with light from Pacci's cane and use it to leap up to the higher ledge.

The door that led me to gave me a completely empty room – empty until I set foot past the door, which closed behind me and caused four blue Mulldozers, the tougher and more erratic kind, to drop down. As erratic as they were, they still weren't any match for me, and three strikes each from the sword defeated them, making a large chest flicker into being – a novel effect.

"Different," I noted, shoving it open to retrieve two golden bracelets.

"I'm experimenting with different effects," Link's voice said. "If nothing else to make a change from chests just appearing out of nowhere. Flashy effects count for a lot, you know."

"And these would be the treasure the Minish mentioned?" I asked, putting on the bracelets.

"Of course," he replied. "Don't delay, Manic. You've still got a lot to do."

"If you keep nagging me, I'm going to slow down on purpose," I threatened him.

"Please don't. I already owe the Goddess of Time enough favours to last several lifetimes."

"All the more incentive for you to stop then, isn't it?" I replied smugly.

I left by the only other door here, taking me to the northern part of the original room. Link didn't respond any more – I guess even he can only stand so much of me. There wasn't anywhere to go from here but back to Left's house, since I still refused to get wet and there really didn't seem to be anything interesting on the other side of the water – nothing worth going for a swim for, anyway.

I knew the way back, and aside from several Minish who'd apparently gone as far as they dared (to just outside the cattery, not having the courage to brave the cats), there really wasn't much to worry about. The Minish were surprised that I'd managed to go through what they called a den of evil and come back alive, but it was hard to tell if they meant the cats or the cave behind the fountain.

Dr. Left was of course still deeply engrossed in the tome on his desk when I finally got back, and somehow managed to completely ignore the sounds of two large cabinets, apparently moving by themselves as I, still a Minish, made use of these golden bracelets to shove what appeared to be massive, towering cabinets.

* * *

"Do you still have them?" Silver asked curiously.

"'course I do. I didn't keep all my stuff, but I got to keep a few things. Don't really need them too often, but..." Manic tugged up the arms of his tunic and showed them.

"They're gold alright," Silver nodded. "I can feel that from here. But I don't see how they work for you without a mind like mine."

"Ma-gic," Knuckles said exaggeratedly. "There were people in Skyloft who made things like that on a regular basis. I imagine the Minish have their own craftsmen – either that or someone else used one of those portals to get them down to Minish size."

"Or Link just waved his hands, or whatever it is the gods do," Manic added. "Finished with 'em now, or did you want to wait before I carry on?"

* * *

Moving the cabinets allowed me to use yet another Minish staircase, this one just inside the walls themselves, to reach the top of them, and from there a second hole in the wall led me up into the rafters. The place was a bit dusty, lit only by a single candle that provided more than enough light for the family of Minish living up here, and surrounded by immense books the Minish had pilfered from Dr. Left below. One Minish, who was perched on the edge of a book, wandering back and forth as he read it, glanced up as I came into the light and made a vague gesture off to one side.

I followed his gaze to a second Minish, who was jumping on the edge of a large green book, trying to get it to fall down. The Hylian words on the spine read, 'Legends of the Picori' – the book I was looking for.

"I know, I know, you want this book," the Minish said when I joined him, out of breath. "It was a fascinating read, but I can't get it back down on my own, and my brother's so interested in the book he's got that he won't help me with it."

"Maybe if we both jumped?" I wondered, half to myself. We both trekked out to the edge of the book, fully aware that we'd both probably fall with the book if we did, and despite the weight of both of us and the impact of jumping the book teetered, but did not fall.

"I guess even if he wasn't busy it wouldn't have been enough then," the Minish sighed. "Now how'm I going to get it back down?"

I already had a solution, though it'd be the first time I did this in front of others.

"Don't get surprised," I told him. "I'm going to do something kinda remarkable."

Naturally, all that did was get the entire family of Minish to stop and watch with interest as I swung the sword to bring out Red. After only a moment of surprise, the Minish joined the two of me on the edge of the book, though this time before we jumped one of the other Minish tied a long length of string around the three of us.

Now all it took was one good leap on the edge to send the book flying down below. Dr. Left somehow contrived to remain blissfully unaware of it, he was so busy. The string we were on left us dangling over the edge, but the Minish are almost as agile as I was, and it wasn't long before we'd all climbed back up, Red taking the easy way out and simply touching my sword as I climbed past.

All that was left now was for me to make the long journey all the way back to the garden to get back to normal size, retrieve the book and get it back to the library.

I did check the book when I got back to it, just in case it had been damaged by the fall, but Hylians make their books to last through the ages, so it isn't surprising to find that aside from a few creased pages which I took the time to do something about, there wasn't the slightest sign anything untoward had happened to it.

The librarians had both managed to stop arguing during this somewhat more lengthy escapade, though I noticed even as I returned the book the librarian handing checking out books was looking even more amused than before.

"Goodness, you managed to get this back?" the returns librarian said, surprised by the book. "However did you manage to track it down?"

"Oh, I'm resourceful. It was a bit of an adventure, but not really anything important. Any more books?"

"Only one more for the shelf upstairs – 'A History of Masks'. Checked out by our own Mayor Hagen."

"Good luck with that one," the other librarian smirked. "I heard he was seen taking it with him when he went to his lakeside cabin."

"Library books aren't meant to be taken out of the town!"

Yet again, the two were back arguing with each other. I wondered idly as I left if it wasn't something they actually did just because they enjoyed a good argument over even the most ridiculous of things.


	27. Two of a Kind

I made a stop by the Mayor's Residence, which interestingly enough had no staff – he seemed somehow to manage all by himself – but was also devoid of the Mayor as well. Which was a problem, since aside from knowing his cabin was somewhere in the region of Lake Hylia, after the last two books I was feeling too lazy to hunt for it myself.

A small Minish figure caught my eye though, waving to me from outside a tiny hole, then heading in. I made use of a nearby pot, flipped with the Cane of Pacci, to serve as a makeshift portal, then made the long trek to a ladder that reached the high shelf and met the Minish in her home.

She didn't say anything – which is another curiosity, most Minish are chatty people – but she did point to a map she had on the wall, and when I took out my own she made a mark on it. Several marks, in sequence, that would hopefully reveal which way to go.

Despite her curious silence, I insisted on giving away yet more rupees as thanks, once again heading out of town and past Lon Lon Ranch in order to reach Lake Hylia. When I'd last been here there had been only a small part I could reach. The Minish's marks led the same way as I'd taken that time, heading for Syrup's hut.

Except where there were some rather natural looking steps up to the high ledge where she lived, the Minish's route took me past them to a tightly packed dirt wall that showed signs of having been dug out and rebuilt on a regular basis. There was even a sign nearby proclaiming it to be a shortcut to the Mayor's cabin, so naturally I got out the Mole Mitts and went to work digging.

"At least you'll still have something to do when you've finished off Vaati," Ezlo observed at one point where I paused to take a break.

"What d'ya mean by that?"

"Well, just think Manic," he said with a tone that hinted at what came next. "You could go all the way up to see Melari again and get some honest work, helping dig out ores with him. He might even show you how to be a smith, and you don't get much more honest than that."

"Me? Honest work? You must be out of your mind," I retorted, though grinning. "The day I take up honest work for a living will be the day I can't lie myself out of it again."

"You wouldn't have people trying to chase you down though."

"But that's half the fun!"

"You're incorrigible," he sighed.

"I know. But would any of this be nearly as good if I wasn't?"

Ezlo refused to answer that – which I took as agreement enough. He might take exception and complain, but I think at heart he didn't actually mind my activities, not as long as they sped us along. Any Hero with more morals than me would have taken far longer to do the same. And would have missed out on some of the best interludes with Vaati.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I dug out the exit at the far end of the cavern, emerging into a part of Lake Hylia that, after a moment with the map, was not only in the southern part of the area, but was also right next door to the Mayor's Cabin. Just as the Minish's route markings had intended.

The cabin was locked of course, but since the Mayor wasn't home I went ahead and picked the lock anyway. I'd leave it unlocked, but when he came by next time he'd probably just think he forgot to lock it last time. People tell themselves things like that quite often, it's how my visits manage to go unnoticed until they look for whatever I took. And since I don't leave a trace that I've been there besides said missing object, that often takes a while.

Inside the cabin was sparsely furnished, though that furniture he had added was clearly made for comfort. He had his own stone fireplace and an indoor pool, supplied through a grate from the lake itself. A grate that I could fit through as a Minish, if I needed.

The book he'd taken out had for some reason been put up on top of the fireplace, which reached almost to the ceiling itself. Curious, but sometimes Hylian construction leans that way. There wasn't anything I could use to reach up on top and even if I had the space between it and the ceiling was nowhere near wide enough for me. If there'd been something long around I could use to nudge it out, I would have. As it was, this was a job for Minish Manic.

Makes me sound like some cheap knock-off superhero, doesn't it?

Back outside I checked the back of the cabin, ensuring that I really could get to the grating I'd seen once I'd found a portal. It'd involve a lot of getting wet unless I found a way of travelling on water again, since the cabin was in the shallows and there was very little exposed land, but I did find what I needed. Mostly because I took my knife to a jumble of logs and carved it myself, creating a Minish-sized route from the shallows to that place.

I still needed a portal and a raft though. The latter was easily solved by some more wood and a bit of patience, creating a suitable boat and tiny oars for a Minish. Certainly better than the leaf I'd used so long ago. The portal took a bit longer as I trekked around the shallows, eventually finding what was left of a tree and having to carve it out to make it a portal, making sure my boat was nearby. I even added a mast and a leaf to act as a sail, just in case the winds decided to cooperate.

They didn't, but thanks to the power in those golden bracelets, rowing was easy work. The waters were still enough around the wooden stairway I'd made that I didn't feel the need to find a way to secure it and made my way on up and into the cabin, slipping easily through the grate, then from there around the pool.

The bracelets again came in useful for shoving a large china cabinet aside to reveal a long stairway that told me that Minish had once been here, or perhaps still were and just weren't so incautious about it. Either way, it got me up on top of the cabinet and from there to the book, which was in turn shoved down to the floor.

Knowing Link and what had happened so far I almost expected to find something had washed way the boat or at least a monster, even Minish sized, had turned up, but instead for once the weather cooperated and I was able to sail back to the portal in relative comfort, retrieve the book and once again check the sudden drop hadn't damaged it. Nothing that'd be noticed, that's for sure.

If the returns librarian had been surprised by the return of the first two books she was astonished by the third, and this time the checking out librarian didn't have anything to say on the matter. A rather elderly but very spry man named Sturgeon was summoned to sort the books back into their places, moving more quickly than his ancient frame suggested.

I did get asked if I could lend a hand with other book returns, but I protested I had a need to look up some things in those books and had done enough for one day. I waited for Sturgeon to finish up and go about his business elsewhere before I made use of another convenient pot, this one just outside the library that had been collecting rainwater, to shrink down yet again and make use of the returned books to at last reach Elder Librari.

It didn't really take all that long to reach his book, a very thick green tome Ezlo had pointed out to me when we'd first found the other books missing. It was even thicker up close, and now I came to see it from a Minish's eye view, I even saw how a door had been artfully concealed in the spine – just in case anyone wanted the book.

Elder Librari himself looked very similar to Elder Gentari of the Minish Village, though Librari wore blue instead of the green and reds Gentari favoured, and even held in one hand a giant quill. The inside of the book that doubled as his home showed that pages had been carefully pushed out so as not to distort or damage them, all of his belongings arranged on furniture that clearly said they'd stay behind even if someone did take the book away. It'd leave him a little exposed, but then at the exposed bookshelf beyond there was a doorway leading into the wall itself, evidently a safe haven to which he could retreat.

"Elder Librari, I presume," I started. "I'm Manic, this is Ezlo."

"Ezlo?" Librari sounded startled, looking him over. "It is... good to see you again, but perhaps not so good for you. I had heard you set out in search of your errant apprentice."

"Indeed Elder, I did – and this was the result," Ezlo sighed "Vaati is far more than I can handle now he has the power of that cap. So as Manic is also on a quest to break a curse of Vaati's, I am helping him."

"Is that so? What took you so long to get back to me then?"  
"Well, someone checked out the books that let us get here," I replied. "That, and we had to reforge the Picori sword and go hunting for the Elements."

"That's why I directed Manic to you," Ezlo continued. "I'm aware you once ventured into the Temple of Droplets in Lake Hylia, and as we are we have no means of doing so. I can take him to Minish size obviously, but the Temple is proofed against the magic which handles that."

"Oh, so a respected Minish Sorcerer like you can't magic his way through one simple protective spell?" Librari chortled. "Trust it to you to manage that, Ezlo. There's more too, isn't there?"

"Manic," Ezlo nudged me.

"What? You're the one who wanted to come here, what do you want me to say?"

"Oh, for – you're hopeless, you are. All this time here and I've only heard you complain about one thing."

"Oh. That."

"Yes. That."

Librari looked on with amusement as, for the first time in ages, I actually ended up squirming a little.

"I'm going to have to get wet and swim, aren't I?" I finally asked.

"With a name like that, you are almost guaranteed to if you want the Water Element within the Temple," Librari chuckled. "Is there a problem with that?"

"I hate getting wet. Not that I _can't_ swim, don't misunderstand, but d'ya have any idea how hard it is to get fur dry?"

"I cherish my ignorance on the matter," Librari laughed. "There is an item that... perhaps if you can swim will not help you by itself. But in a moment I will show you the way to retrieve it, and while you are busy I will make... arrangements. You, young Manic, will find it most useful afterwards."

"It still means getting wet though, doesn't it?"

"But of course!" he exclaimed. "Ah, but I cannot set your mind at ease without spoiling what I have in mind. Go through the door here and stand on the clover-leaf symbol, Manic. It will take you to a little test that will, if you are really a Hero, lead you to what you require."

That bothered me a little, since I'm accustomed to just taking what I need, not having to work for it like this, but since he assured me I needed it... I humoured him and went to the door, then stopped.

"Oh, no." I said. "That is a trapdoor Librari, and I'm not stepping on that until you tell me what's underneath it."

"Just the test," he said innocently. "Nothing more."

"Oh, _really_? There would be say..." I paused, tapping it with one foot. "A bit of a drop involved to reach it?"

"I can't imagine why you'd think that, Manic."

"He's a thief, Librari," Ezlo sighed. "You can't hide traps from him. Open the trapdoor, and I'll get him down there safely, otherwise you'll never get him to cooperate."

"Where's the fun in that?" Librari asked.

"Oh gods, not you as well," Ezlo groaned.


	28. Water and Ice

Ezlo made use of the same trick we had back at the human mines, catching the air to see us down safely enough past some seemingly massive stonework that, if my internal sense of direction was right, put us somewhere _in_ the massive stone walls. Of course the library had been built up against them.

We eventually landed in another Minish-made cavern, much like the one where the golden bracelets had been concealed, even with a stream of water flowing through that was part of the town's supply route. Down a bit from where I'd landed were what appeared to be some slugs, though seeing them from this smaller perspective made it hard to tell. They mostly kept out of my way though, so I ignored them and used the Gust Jar to drag a mushroom over the water to me, allowing me to avoid getting wet and land on a thin line of rocks, leading to a northward door.

This door locked behind me, taking me in turn to a room that if not for the water was effectively a dead end. It also had two beetles in with unpleasant looking pairs of pincers on the front, and both were heading for me.

Worse yet, they seemed able to detach and throw their pincers, boomerang like – but I've plenty of experience dodging all manner of things thrown at me. Just most of them have a tendency to be man-made.

They were vulnerable without the pincers, but their tough hide prevented me from actually doing any real harm. Instead of battering away, I flipped them on to their backs with the Mole Mitts for extra leverage, then let their pincers return, smack into them and carry them stunned into one wall where some absolute rascal had left a bomb waiting for them.

Needless to say, they didn't survive that, and in their demise caused a chest to appear – this time in a swirling vortex of light that made it appear as if it had always been there, it was just becoming visible and solid now.

"I'm not sure the flashy effects are really all that necessary, Link," I observed, reaching into the chest to find out a pair of rather ordinary looking flippers. "And if this is the best Librari can do, I think I'm going to have a lot to say."

"Just wait and see," Link replied, as usual not bothering to show himself. "Librari's solution is even better than my own. I might steal it actually, there's another place – not in Hyrule, and not one you'll go to – where the local Hero might find it useful."

Rather reluctantly, since as far as I knew I was yet again going to get wet, I slipped the flippers over my boots, noting that Link had designed them to simply attach to the boots themselves, saving me from actually having to change footwear every time I needed them. As the door had not opened and the only way out lay in the water, I then leapt into the stream.

"Well, that's certainly an interesting look," Ezlo observed once I'd broken the surface and was bobbing there, using my arms to keep afloat. "Look down, Manic."

I did so, then suppressed the urge to make some kind of outcry. In place of everything that's supposed to be there, below the waist I now had a gleaming fish-like tail. In green, naturally, to match the rest of me.

"It's really rather neat, Manic," Link told me. "You'll even be able to breathe underwater with this."

"I'm so happy you like it," I said rather acidly. "But I still seem to have wet fur – on that part of me I still have fur."

"Oh stop being such a curmudgeon and get out of the water again if that's what's bothering you."

Getting out wasn't so easy, since I needed some shallow water to manage it effectively with this tail and its fins, and there wasn't any here. I had to swim back down until I was in the previous area to find some, finding that at least swimming like this wasn't as hard as usual, nor as bad.

Once I finally had hauled myself out of the shallows and back on to dry land my legs reappeared again and, to some surprise – I was bone dry again, as if I'd never been wet in the first place.

"Happy now?" Ezlo asked me. "Now you can swim and not have to worry about getting wet any more. That's your usual complaint blown out of the water."

"Alright, so maybe I did complain a bit," I grudgingly conceded. "And maybe this was more useful than I thought it'd be."

"Don't forget to thank Librari," Link told me. "He's the one who came up with it. But make sure you visit the Temple first."

"You're not going to tell me why, are you?"

"Of course not. I'm just nudging things along a little. That's all I do, besides arrange for a Hero to turn up when needed."

I thought about that for a time, getting back into the water and letting the natural flow take me back out into town. Along the way an idea occurred to me.

"Say, Link. You always have to make some kinda arrangement to make Heroes show up, right?"

"Naturally. It's always a bit of a challenge – I have to find someone suitable, wait for something to happen that will appear plausible enough to explain how they got to Hyrule – or on rare occasions other lands – and make sure they don't notice. You're the exception there of course, but there was no other way I'd have convinced you if I hadn't done it this way."

"But that's kinda a lot of work for you to do, isn't it? What if, say, I found someone who I thought could be a good Hero for you, and someone who could get them where you need them? Then all you'd need to do is watch them and nudge things a little so they arrive at the right place and time. Save you a lot of trouble."

"Unless he'd get into trouble with the other Gods for that," Ezlo added to me.

"No, actually I think if anything they'd appreciate it," Link replied. "They don't always approve of the methods I use to make them cooperate in the first place. If someone else did it, it'd be entirely out of my hands, and I'd just be taking advantage of it."

"Keep an eye on me when I'm done here then, and I'll see if I can't find someone for you."

* * *

"You jerk!" Sonic exclaimed. "You're responsible for it! All of it! You're even responsible for him taking me there!" he pointed to Silver. Manic just smirked.

"I thought it was a little suspicious I knew exactly where and when to take him," Silver said thoughtfully. "I guess that explains it. He must have figured out how to be more subtle about it, because I certainly didn't notice him."

"You also didn't notice him when he tampered with you to get you to Hyrule in the first place," Tails added. "And I don't think even I thought there was any outside influences involved when I got brought here."

"Yeah, but he – you-" Sonic spluttered. Manic somehow contrived to put on an even broader smirk.

"You _did_ say you felt left out," he told his older brother innocently. "And it's not as if I knew until I looked in on you guys, and that was after I'd got back. I suppose all that's left now..." Manic trailed off and looked to Scourge.

"Oh, no," he said quickly, holding up both hands. "You're _not_ making me a Hero too. I'm not going to do anything of the sort."

"I'm sure I can find _someone_ who doesn't mind, and Silver probably won't mind another excuse to go visiting Hyrule, or those other lands Link mentioned."

Sonic gave up and stalked off, muttering animatedly to himself.

"Was it something I said?" Manic asked, then burst out in helpless laughter.

* * *

Getting back to Lake Hylia was slightly easier with the flippers and their useful collection of benefits. Several places I'd previously avoided became more convenient, and almost before I knew it I was swimming through the lake itself. Ezlo apparently had no need to be concerned about breathing underwater himself.

Throughout the lake there were patches of rough, higher ground that often never emerged except as shallows, many of which had blue Octoroks on. Once I'd had a bit of time to straighten out my swimming somewhat I found it easily possible to use the sword underwater, allowing me to strike them easily without even breaking the surface.

We found the Temple of Droplets only by chance because I stayed beneath the surface, so the ice covered rocks that formed a large portal were not as obvious to me as they should have been. I caught a flash of light from a chunk of ice that was below the surface and found, inside, what appeared to be a frozen Octorok, along with several panes of ice that showed tiny rooms and corridors inside.

There was enough shallow water around them for me to get out and on top of the large portal that served as the Temple's entrance, the only dry ground there was so I could get my legs back again, and even as I did so I noticed some of the water that had been dripping off me had already started to form into ice on its way down. Ezlo was wrong, I did still have one reason to complain. Cold is bad for thieves you see, because when we get back to warmer climates we inevitably end up with the sniffles. Which makes it very hard to sneak up on someone, or keep quiet.

Fortunately I wasn't alone in my complaints.

"I thought this was the Temple of Droplets, not the Temple of Ice!" he exclaimed, his beak already starting to chatter. "If you don't hurry and find that Element here, I'm going to turn into a hatsicle!"

"Now there's an amusing thought," I chuckled to myself. "Don't worry, Ezlo. I'm sure there's something here to handle the ice."

"How do you figure that? More thieves sense?"

"No, common sense – and a bit of Heroic intuition. This is a place filled with ice, and we spotted that frozen Octorok outside, didn't we? So, it naturally follows that we're going to get some fire-related item here."

"You stop that, Manic," Link told me. "You're not supposed to figure out things like that in advance!"

"Hey, you hired me," I replied. "Can't help it if I'm too smart for you!"


	29. Chills and Thrills

From where we'd landed inside the Temple of Droplets there were only two ways we could go. The Boss door was immediately visible to the south, this time one of the kinds that needed the lock to be repaired before I could pick it, and another, open door opposed it to the north.

Since except for a set of steps leading down this area was barred off, I had to head for the Boss door, only to find that the area surrounding the raised entry area was covered in ice, encasing some plants that had tried to grow as it had formed.

Naturally I slipped and slid on the ice. I quickly figured a way around this by using the Mole Mitts again, digging them in to effectively claw and drag myself along without sliding further than I wanted. And if I wanted to slide for a time, I just had to leave them free of the ice until I wanted to stop. It worked quite well for something I made up on the spot.

North appeared to be little more than a torch-lit junction room, to the west a door that needed a key, to the east another already open door. The torches here shot small balls of light again, but they had poor aim and since the floor, while not ice-covered, was icy enough to allow for at least some slipping and sliding, they failed to catch me even once.

"Maybe some of your habits aren't so bad after all," Ezlo remarked, apparently to himself judging by how quietly he said it.

"Told you so," I replied smugly. He didn't deign to answer that.

Next up was another almost empty room, though one considerably warmer than the others so far, warmth let in by a patch of ceiling that had been carved out and was letting sunlight stream in and down on to a pair of large stone tiles. Tiles which looked as if they had been designed to, and had recently, move.

A few red Mulldozers milled about until I dispatched them, but otherwise this room was almost unnervingly empty, and I couldn't help but wonder if someone else had been here recently. There were no clear signs as such, but I couldn't shake the feeling. Who would it be if someone was here? Dark lacked the means to become a Minish, and Vaati was probably engrossed in his pointless search. Who else was there?

I took the only route I could, a set of stairs leading down that thanks to the sunlight above had already lost any ice over it. Getting back up some icy stairs is not easy, take it from me. These stairs were clear and safe, leading us down to a place that had ice partly barred off, on which was a small key encased in a large cube of ice, a switch almost as big as I was, and not much else.

There was no other choice than the shove the massive switch, using the golden bracelets for an extra boost. From above there was a series of clanks and machine-like groans as the two tiles that had previously been in the floor above grudgingly moved aside, letting sunlight stream down. The ice would soon start to melt entirely because of it – but that wouldn't get me the key. There was no way to it, that area was completely barred off, and even if I dropped down from above, I had no way back.

Or didn't I? I thought quickly then brought Red out again, as usual knowing exactly what I had in mind. That was one of the best things about these copies of me, I never once had to explain anything when I first formed them.

Red, just as I'd intended, darted back up the stairs and dropped down on to the ice, using the bars that separated him from me to avoid harm. He quickly shoved the ice block into the light, which then melted suspiciously quickly, handed it through to me then as I extended my sword back through to him, he touched on it and vanished again, no longer trapped there.

"Interesting way to solve the problem," Ezlo commented. "There must have been another way though, in case someone without the sword needed to come through."

"There isn't," Link told us. "I came here while you were still on your way and made a few changes. They weren't my idea, but since I've already annoyed enough of the others with you I had to do something to get them off my back."

"Aren't divine politics fascinating?" I said to Ezlo, wandering back to the locked door.

It appeared at first to be much the same story on this side as it had been on the other, except here the Mulldozers were blue, the tiles had already been opened, and a pair of stone walls blocked my passage to the other side, leaving me no choice but to drop down. There wasn't enough room to get up a good enough running jump to clear the gap.

The floor below, despite the sunlight streaming down on this side too, was almost completely covered in ice with only a few stones emerging out of it. Another switch was here too, just clearing the ice, and several more large ice cubes – one of which containing what appeared to be a missing piece of the Boss door's lock.

It was a simple enough puzzle, looking at it. Ice on ice would slide until it hit something, that much was a given. There were three ice cubes, one of which with the lock in, and all I had to do was arrange them in such a way the lock block made it into the light. I took a few moments to study the arrangement of rocks, then figured it.

The northernmost block was shifted first, an empty one, until it met the stone in its path. The middle lock block followed identically, was pushed up into it, then aside. Then the similarly empty south block was shoved up against the wall, then across, and the lock into it. It was simple from there, pushing it to the end of the room with the light and the switch, then bouncing it off the switch and into the light to retrieve the defrosted lock piece and close the tiles above so I had a way back across.

"I don't like this," I said more to myself than to Ezlo. "Unless this is making up for the last place being unnecessary, this was just too quick."

"Maybe Link has something else in mind?" Ezlo suggested. "I doubt he'd tell us though."

We got that right, at least. I made the trek back to the Boss door, setting the one, single piece in its place and picking the lock to let us through to a cavernous room.

There, in the centre and in a huge chunk of ice was the Water Element – right there, so close and yet at the same time, completely out of reach. I could see immediately there were two upper areas, one on either side that were barred off, except for a place on each where someone had broken away some bars to make a route back down here.

Past the ends of those areas to the far south of the room was a familiar sight: the frozen Octorok, staring blankly at the Water Element, looking as if it had smashed through the wall and been frozen in place. A chunk of ice nearby blocked a way past some stone walls to a door I saw beyond, while the door opposite it was freely reachable.

It explained why the Boss door had some so quickly, at least. I spotted even more massive tiles in the ceiling that showed how I was going to get the Element, but by the looks of it, doing so would also defrost the Octorok – revealing the likely Boss here. One Octorok by himself isn't a threat normally, unless you happen to be a Minish.

With no other route to take I pulled myself over the icy floor and slid through the western door, taking me to what appeared to be a corridor. North was a spiked log rolling over the surface of some water, south appeared to be an even narrower corridor and some rupees, scattered carelessly on the ground.

Warily, suspecting a trap, I followed them without touching them, emerging on a barred off ledge surrounding a waterfall, the only thing here a large chest that contained the Temple's map. As usual, I memorized it before I stowed it in my tunic for easier access, just in case I needed to refresh my memory again.

The flippers made avoiding the spike trap easy, swimming underneath it without a problem and following the water until I found shallow water to emerge from. What they didn't make easy was handling the freezing chill of the water, ensuring that even once dry again, my teeth was chattering and I already had the sniffles that are the curse of any thief.

Ezlo, interestingly, did a little magic that countered both without saying a word. It wasn't the same kind of warmth that the sunlight streamed in, but his magic was enough to keep me from feeling the cold at least. Useful magic we made use of a few more times later on.

To my annoyance though, the only way was up some stairs and back into more bone chilling water. I swam about a bit here and found that in a barred off area there was another locked door, and a bit further south, just coinciding with the bars, were some tall pillars blocking the way through. I had to go back to where I'd got into the water and head east instead, where I found another locked door, this time not barred off and with shallows nearby to get out.

I had no key for this door, and having seen this far that there was usually a reason for that, I decided to keep Ezlo happy if nothing else and let it be. Out of the water I carried on south, finding the top of the waterfall I'd seen not so long before, along with more pillars that blocked the way. A handy mushroom catapulted me over the water to the area above the narrow corridor from before, where a switch removed the pillars. With another sigh, I realized I was going to have to brave the water yet again. At least this time getting wet wasn't my main concern with it.

Throwing yourself down a waterfall also wasn't something I was particularly keen on, but since I didn't really have any choice I trusted that Link wasn't trying to get me killed and let it wash me off and down, somehow managing to miss all the protruding rocks and splash down into a conveniently deep pool of water.

"What _is_ it with you?" Ezlo demanded once I broke the surface. "First the mine carts, now waterfalls!"

"What's wrong, Ezlo? Don't you like a bit of danger and a few thrills?"

"You're impossible!"

"I know," I laughed. "It's part of my charm."

There was, down here, a patch of shallow water and a rocky wall leading up from there that would probably get me back up, though as I hadn't noticed anywhere at the top this could have emerged from, I wondered about this. I didn't worry about it though since there was nothing up there I needed to do for now, and instead swum under another spike log, briefly getting out of the water to trigger an almost concealed switch that removed more pillars from my path, allowing me once again, to continue on.


	30. Icy Oddity

I decided to remain below the surface again as I swam on, if nothing else because it meant anything concealed under the water would be more visible. The water here was almost crystal clear, making it just as easy to see through it as you'd see through air.

That turned out to be a good call on my part, as in swimming around an unusually shaped wall in the water, I turned past an opening that, on the surface, was just a dead end. There on the bottom however lay a small silver key. The walls here I noticed were mirrored on the other side, and it wasn't until I thought about it I realized they formed the shape of a giant pot – or maybe they had once _been_ a normal sized pot to a human.

Rather than backtrack to make use of this just now though, I recalled the map showed more past this pot room and swam on eastward, only to find there was no point as two lines of pillars blocked my path both above and below water, and the rocky spit of land between them, which had the likely switch for them atop, had no shallow water for me to use to get out.

I suppose if I wanted I could have taken an idea from Silver's Zora form, if I'd known about it, and swum to leap out of the water, but after the mushrooms had thrown me similarly and usually into something hard and painful, I wasn't about to try that myself.

That meant I had to backtrack anyway, taking the rocky wall back up past the waterfall and shove aside a piece of a stone wall that had blended in perfectly on the other side, until I'd moved it. Since the locked door on the other side was, for now, inaccessible, that left only the one on this side to unlock. Which turned out to be that inaccessible door, something I had somehow managed to miss noticing completely. That allowed me past the pillars and to the switch that removed them, in the process revealing a raft complete with oar.

"Why give us this if we can swim?" Ezlo muttered.

"You're forgetting why I had to turn back," I replied. "No way out of the water, but if I take this raft there instead it'll float under the spike traps and let us reach the switch."

"It would have been easier to just give you some shallow water."

"We don't know what else is lying ahead that might need this, Ezlo."

He grumbled a bit about it, but since there wasn't much he could do to stop me taking it, left it at that. He did complain about having to follow it off the waterfall however, along with a few more remarks about what might have happened if it hadn't floated free of it at the bottom. I knew the current there would be enough to do that and make it safe for me.

At the spike trap here I swam underneath the raft and pushed it along from there, as I'd predicted it floated easily underneath dipping down only slightly. Even the oar made it through completely intact, though with a few marks that attested to how close that had been.

Once the switch had been pressed and the pillars retracted, I could either head north or further east, and I was hearing familiar sounds from the east. Sure enough, tromping around easily on the ice was a Madderpillar – last seen protecting the Gust Jar in Deepwood Shrine. It didn't fare any better than it had before, though as I again used the Mole Mitts to control my own movement on the ice it took a little longer.

Defeating it opened a door to the north into a small chamber lit by only one torch, containing a large chest. In it, cold to the touch was a silver rod with a blue crystal at the tip. Suspecting this too was a magical item, I gave it an experimental wave toward one wall, shooting an icy blue light that caused ice to blossom over the wall.

"That'd make it the Ice Rod then," Ezlo said without preamble. "Strange place to put it though. It's not as if there'll be much use for it here. I wonder what it's doing here?"

"So do I," Link added, sounding curious. "I know the room you're in, along with the Madderpillar before, weren't there before."

"So, someone else did this, did they?" I asked.

"Apparently so, and whoever they are, they're good. I can't tell who did this. Still, I don't see why you shouldn't have that rod, just mind you don't abuse it. I hadn't counted on you having anything of the sort."

"I'll handle that," Ezlo said. "I'll teach you a bit of respect for magical artefacts yet, my boy."

"You wish!" I snorted, returning to the raft and taking it north instead.

That turned out to be a room that had probably seen the work of the Ice Rod first hand, many portions of it frozen over. There was a stream of water, often with chunks of ice floating in, that led through the room, but the first obstacle to this was another string of pillars, and not far beyond I spotted another collection of ice cubes around a second switch for a second string.

The first one was easily dealt with, the switch for it being on a nearby patch of ice I could reach in no time. Before I dealt with the second I spotted several Mulldozers and even a few flying insects that could become inconvenient while trying to handle the ice cube puzzle, so made use of the ice rood to turn them into monster popsicles. The frozen insects bobbed in the water after the landed, except for those who landed on ice and who shattered. Ezlo rather chillingly remarked that frozen monster parts didn't look nearly so gory as they would have if they'd defrosted.

The block puzzle as it turned out was relatively simple. As long as I pushed only one block, the others were all arranged so that I could bounce it off them to land it on the switch and take the raft with me either to a watery passage in the north-east of the room, or take it due west. For no particular reason except that I felt like it, I went north-east first.

Here there were almost no sources of light, and those that were here were faint, making it too dark to see normally. Rather than stumble around in the darkness I paused there in the half-light of the doorway, listening intently. There were sounds of movement in the darkness, but not close enough that I needed to worry. Once my eyes started to adjust to the low light and I was able to make out the room better, I moved on, though warily.

As it turned out the sounds came from the room beyond, to the north, and this room was simply a narrow wall-hugging passage over a very deep looking pit. My caution had been without any real reason, but it had been better to be safe with the pit there.

Next came a small area that had only one purpose in this more brightly lit room, to lead me up to a raised area that was barred off but for the stairs, showing there was another door leading south and west, neither of which I could reach from here. I could only take the stairs leading further up, putting me in a room with three of the pincer beetles. I treated them the same way I had the last ones, making the doors unlock again, making the blue portal appear, and open the way south.

A narrow ledge forced me west almost immediately, taking me back to the cavernous room with the Element in, this time up on one ledge. From this perspective I could see immediately there was a switch, and a partner on the ledge opposite, but there was no way I was going to be able to shift it alone.

I did try, reasoning that maybe the golden bracelets would help, but it wasn't enough. I brought out Red, sharing one of the two bracelets with him, then focusing our effort through the hands with the bracelets on we both shoved together, forcing it aside.

The eastern half of the giant tiles in the ceiling shifted aside, bathing the room in a warming light – but not enough to defrost either the Element or the Octorok. It did, however, melt the ice that had been barring our passage east from here earlier.

Before I dropped down I sent Red to take a quick look back at the western route from the icy room, only to have him find it was a dead end – a patch of ice encasing one of the few smaller chests in the Temple, but nothing else, and without a means of defrosting it there was nothing we could do. Red relayed this to me simply by rejoining me where I'd waited, in the warmth of the sunlight we'd let in, and simply rejoined me. Saved a lot of time, until I had to relay it to Ezlo too.


	31. Fire from the Gods

As the western exit had taken us to the opposite eastern ledge, this naturally meant that the now defrosted access to the east would in turn lead us to the western ledge, where the other switch would open the other tile above, letting in enough light to defrost the Element and Octorok – hopefully with enough of a chance for me to steal the Element before the Octorok did anything to it.

I passed through one tiny room, the sole purpose of which to lead me north and taking me to an area just below the high ledge that lead to the eastern ledge. The ice became more prevalent here, forcing me to resort to the Mole Mitts once again to control my sliding around, passing a chest of yet more rupees and into an area where the ice crossed a deep, dark pit.

That room made me _very_ grateful for those mitts, I can tell you. The Ice Rod shot down more insects to make it safer to pass the winding route of ice, though what it couldn't help me with was a ring of spike traps that were circling the edges of an area ahead. There was no way past them without trying to get over them.

Just to see what happened I shot one of them with the Ice Rod, which promptly froze. As the others continued to push it, it appeared for a moment I'd done nothing until it slid off the corner of this square they were protecting. Several more later and I had a selection of gaps to choose from, allowing me to make my way past them to a door leading back westwards.

There was a locked door here, along with a set of stairs leading up. The stairs were encased in ice, and this time there was no skylight to melt them with. The prospect of getting something fire-related looked more certain now, otherwise how else was I going to get through without going and getting a load of mirrors?

The only way I could go was north, through a room that _did_ have a skylight, and a pair of closed tiles beneath it, and up to the floor below were the switch for it would undoubtedly be. And indeed was, except it was on the far side of a pit that showed the floor below, and two tiles retracted back. I was going to have to go down another floor and close it.

Below was a simple room. A frozen chest and a switch. You don't need to be me to figure out how to solve this one. Close the one above, that allows you to open the one above that, then go back down and re-open this lowest one to defrost the chest. Naturally, it held the key I needed to progress.

Almost before I entered the room beyond the locked door, I had a familiar feeling that something wasn't right, that something was there. Something I'd last felt in Deepwood Shrine, and remember what happened there?

Right before this side of the door were three metal posts, like those I'd seen in the water, except they were already retracted. And no doubt would shoot up to prevent my departure as soon as I crossed. As for the room itself, it was plain and empty, open to the skies above making it warmer than the rest of the Temple by far. In the shade a collection of needle-sharp icicles had nevertheless formed.

I had little choice but to cross though – without whatever I'd get out of this room, I had no hope of progressing. Sure enough the pillars rose as I entered and after a few moments a large blue blob dropped down. A ChuChu, but not in a colour I'd seen before.

While it was still dropping down I once again summoned Red and tossed him the Gust Jar. He didn't look happy about the supporting role I'd just given him, but he also didn't argue, keeping his distance from the forming blue ChuChu. As soon as it had formed, I saw what was special about this one – it sparked with lightning, making it more dangerous, and impossible to strike with the sword.

I caught it's attention by lobbing a bomb at it, which stuck in its gelatinous body and scattered a few small chunks, quickly sucked up by Red. He focused his efforts on the 'foot' of this beast though, sucking it away as I had in the original battle. He kept moving, avoiding the ChuChu's attempts to go for him, and I kept using bombs to distract it until like the first, it too wobbled unsteadily on its foot.

I darted past the head, making sure it could see me, making it try to fall on me the way the other one had, and was not disappointed. As soon as it was laying stunned the lightning faded and I went in and started hacking. I tried the Mole Mitts too, to see if it was any more effective, but the sword still seemed the best choice. Red kept nearby, sucking away the blobs I carved out of it to prevent it regaining its former size.

From there it was a simple matter to keep repeating the same process until like the first, eyes bulging out of its undersized head, it exploded. This time though, I hid behind Red when the blobs started flying, and _he_ got caught instead.

"Oh, ew," he remarked afterwards. "Monster goo. Did ya really have to do this to me?"

"Only fair you should get to be splattered as well," I replied angelically, moving for the large chest that had appeared. No special effects with it this time either, maybe here Link didn't want to distract me with them.

While he picked bits of the jelly-like remains off himself, I took out a second rod from the chest, very similar to the Ice Rod except that it had a red crystal instead. I waved it toward one of the icicles and a blast of flame shot out, turning the icicle into water and steam.

"Oh, what?" Link exclaimed. "That one too? That's definitely not what I put there. You definitely shouldn't have that."

"It's useful though, and it'll be perfect in a place like this," I argued.

"That's not the point! It completely screws up some of the coming puzzles because they won't be puzzles anymore, and I can't change the place now you're there!"

All three of us stopped and stared as a new voice stepped in, like Link not from any apparent source. "Now Link, let it lie," the distinctly female voice interceded gently. "There's no call to take it out on him."

"I'm not taking it out on him I just..." he trailed off for a moment, then finished, "Look, someone's changing what I've done here, and I can't see any sign of it. I went to a lot of trouble to get it right, and now this happens."

"It really doesn't make that much difference, and you did say you wanted to test these two rods before you let other Heroes use them."

"I don't use other Heroes as guinea pigs, Hylia!" Link protested, identifying the other deity.

"Stop being so childish about it," she told him. "You've seen them both at work, and there aren't any issues. He'll find them useful, so let him keep them."

There was another silence, then accusingly, "You did this, didn't you?"

"Maybe we'd better leave the Hero and his companion to finish up, so we don't distract them with this?" Hylia suggested. Neither of their voices were heard after that. The three of us hadn't moved or even dared to interrupt them.

"I think," Ezlo ventured at last. "We'd better take their advice and not be distracted."

"Not be distracted?" Red burst out. "How can we not! That's a second God that just got involved Ezlo!"

"Apparently with reason though," he said calmly. "And as she said, we're going to find the Fire Rod useful, probably not just here."

"Here," I said, tossing him the rod. "You keep it for a bit. Matches your tunic. Shame there's no rod with a green crystal to match mine, but I'll stick with the Ice Rod for now."

"What'd a green one do though, I wonder?" Red mused.

"Whatever the mage who makes it wants it to," Ezlo replied. "It's not the object that defines the magic, it's the magic you put into it. Now boys, lets get moving. There can't be too much left now, can there?"

* * *

"I remember Hylia," Knuckles said, leaning back thoughtfully. "I never actually saw her true form as such, but I heard from her on occasion. She created Fi to guide me, and as the then-current Zelda was much of the reason I was accepted in Skyloft. Not to mention the reason I had to go off adventuring."

"Wait, Hylia _is_ Zelda?" Shad asked, looking up from his furious scribbling.

"No," Knuckles corrected. "The Zelda I knew back then was Hylia, in hiding from Demise. Not that it really worked for very long," he conceded. "I'm not entirely sure if Ghirahim and his cohorts knew she was the Goddess."

"I wonder why the Goddess thought it necessary to take mortal form though," Auru said after a long drink. "Link we can explain, as Manic noted he prefers a rather personal touch to nudging things along. But Her Grace taking on mortal form... Knuckles?"

"That story hasn't been told yet, has it?" Knuckles replied slyly. "And I don't know about you guys, but I want to hear the rest of this one so I find out who that mysterious extra copy we saw is."

"I'm not trying to be offensive, but you're pretty dense, you know that?" Manic observed casually. "If you think about it, it's pretty obvious. I'm just not telling you anything about it myself – for now. I'm kinda surprised no one's mentioned it though, even trying to figure it out yourselves."

"I know," Silver said, not looking up. "But I don't want to spoil it, and I don't know how or why."

"Your mind gives you an unfair advantage though," Tails told him, handing Shad the completed works for his story. "I think I'm going to go wolf and curl up," he added, more to himself, then to the looks he got, "Hey, don't knock it. Give me a nice fire to curl up beside and nothing compares."

"Just don't doze off and ask me to repeat a bit," Manic told him. "I'm not gonna wait for you."


	32. A Cold Awakening

Now the Blue ChuChu had been defeated and left us the Fire Rod the pillars that had locked us in retracted and allowed us to make use of the new rod to melt the ice just outside, previously blocking the access to some stairs leading back down.

Red, as usual, went on ahead with the Fire Rod in one hand and his sword in the other, melting more ice to release a chest of rupees which he left for me to retrieve and a narrow access to the east. If I recalled the map correctly, this was right beside the room with all the ice in, but not one reachable by it.

Having learned his lessons from the Fortress of Winds however, Red waited for me at the door and went through with me – which turned out to be just as well, as the door locked behind us. The Fire Rod, we discovered there, could act as a rather bad torch, illuminating a small area around us.

Sounds of activity filled the room, scuffling sounds that suggested more of the pincer beetles again. I rolled several bombs out into the room, sheltering behind my shield just in case.

The bombs briefly illuminated parts of the room with their blasts, confirming my suspicions even as a pair of pincers bounced off my shield. More importantly, they revealed four torches. Red quickly pointed the Fire Rod at each to light them, causing the beetles to falter as the sudden light hurt their eyes, no doubt adjusted to the darkness. That gave me all the advantage I needed to dart in and start attacking them, clearing two of the three quickly.

The last one was getting close to Red, who without a shield was spending more time avoiding the pincers. I shot a blast of ice at it to freeze it in place, then Red circled around behind it and used the Fire Rod, causing the ice to crack apart, melting and finishing off the beetle all in one go.

"Well that was fun," he remarked afterwards. "These two work well together, eh?"

"Better than I thought, at least," I said. "I wasn't expecting the ice to break like that. Don't go too far, it's darker than the inside of your boot through here," I added, glancing through the next door.

"I could cover this," he suggested.

"No, I think I see what might be a torch. If they stay lit, we'll be fine."

"Leave that one to me," Ezlo told me. "I'll make sure they stay lit."

With that arrangement made, we started to make our way through the maze-like room. There were low walls that ordinarily I'd have been able to climb over, but were topped by more bars that prevented this. They let the light of the torches through, but little else.

The tight quarters made it awkward whenever we encountered a Blue Mulldozer, but since that also made it hard for them as well it was evenly balanced. In the course of exploring the room we found there was a method to the torches, each one lit caused a piece of the wall and bars above to move aside, opening a new route. It ultimately led us to a door that was locked, and we had no key for.

Under the light of the glowing Fire Rod I re-examined the map, trying to find what I'd missed, then muttered a few complaints under my breath – had I listened to Red and let him cover the rod, I'd have been able to see better in the dark and probably notice a second way west. When I found it I cursed myself again, because it was a bombable wall, and clearly visible as well – yet in the glaring light of torches and the rod, the shadows had made it blend in just enough to be overlooked.

That room too was darkened, lit only by two small sputtering torches and the rod, and from what little we could see there were a lot of Mulldozers here. There was just enough light to see what we were doing separate from each other, so we split up to tackle them all. Defeating them, of course, gave us a small key that clattered down between the torches.

Beyond the locked door was a floor of ice that had a few small stones in, a pair of red Mulldozers, and a pair of flames licking around the room by themselves, providing enough light to see by. Interestingly, the ice wasn't affected by them – evidently a magic fire.

We each took a Mulldozer, taking care to avoid the flames and in his case trying not to slip on the ice until he used his sword to help him. I just resorted to the Mole Mitts again, and when I caught up with the Mulldozer just slashed away with them. They might not have been ideal, but they did the trick.

Beyond there was a room I was familiar with. I'd passed through here along the wall-hugging route on the north and west sides of the room, now this time we were on a patch of ice separate from it that led to the second door in the north wall, and that in turn to the area I'd seen before but not been able to reach.

This time Red kept hold of me while I used the Mole Mitts again to see us safely across. It wasn't quite so easy taking two of us, but I at least managed to keep us from finding out what waited at the bottom of the pit.

A small corridor led us north under the raised area I'd been on top of last time, then west and out the western door I'd also seen before, into a room which had large blocks there was no way I was going to be able to move on my own. Fortunately of course, I had Red around to help, not to mention the golden bracelets bolstering both our strengths. It didn't take us long to shove the massive stones aside, letting us head north and into another room with an ice floor, and this time a lot of stones in the floor.

A quick exploration of the room told us that there were effectively three routes leading west to a locked door, two ice cubes, and three switches at the far end. The puzzle was... puzzling, since all I needed to do was shove one ice cube west on to one of the switches, then Red and I stood on the remaining two ourselves – hardly much of a puzzle. Maybe it had been made for someone else in mind, and Link hadn't remembered to change it to account for me?

At the far end we were taken south again, into a room with a pair of flames wandering the room again, and several stone blocks, one of them disturbing the otherwise perfect symmetry of the room. Even with the flames, it didn't take us long to fix that, opening the door to the west.

Now we were beneath a wide ice path lined with ice bars. There was only one way to go, shoving yet another large stone aside as we headed to the south end of the room, not to reach the ice path but a set of stairs again taking us west, and into a room with nine torches, arranged in a square – one of the puzzles Link had figured without the Fire Rod. It didn't take us long to light them all in order to open the door.

Now, we had to get wet, and since we had only one pair of flippers between us Red rejoined me and after a moment to let his memories join mine, I dived in and under the first spike trap, immediately visible, then headed south. Aside from a few more spike traps though, there wasn't actually anything of note except for a few more beetles, and after I tricked them into jumping in the water after me, I soon found they couldn't breath underwater.

This got me to a room that appeared at a glance to have no other exits, but there was a switch in one corner, suspiciously inviting. As it turned out all that actually did was activate the red portal, which seemed odd. Surely the seemingly giant Octorok would be the boss, and not whatever lay ahead? And even then, why in this empty room?

It was then I caught sight of the slightly looser stones in one wall that marked a neatly concealed bombable wall, blown up to reveal... a web holding in some of the debris. I burnt it away and listened.

Once again, I heard the sounds of a Madderpillar. Two of them, as it happened. Aside from quickly burning away more of the webs nearby just in case, I quickly covered the glowing tip of the Fire Rod and let my eyes adjust to the darkness, keeping out of their way for now. Then once I could make them out in the darkness I started to attack them, treating them the same way I had the others before now. Where there were two I attacked one while the other was rampaging, using the darkness and their apparent lack of perception in it to avoid them.

All I got for my trouble was a door leading east, then north to the ice path I'd seen before. I made use of the icy bars to let myself slide along, clearly able to see there were no obstacles in my way. At the far end were some stairs going up, then some more after that and after a short and uneventful little route I was at last on the opposite ledge with the second giant switch. Red was again brought out to help shift it, opening the second tile.

The bright sunlight melted the ice encasing the Element, which clinked down on to the ice below, also starting to melt but slower. It also defrosted the Octorok too however, which squirmed and broke away the last of the ice and rocks around it, taking a deep breath – and sucking up the Element in the process. It then backed out through the hole left by where it had been.

"I suppose it would have been far too simple to try and just take it?" Red suggested, looking after it.

"And get sucked in with it?" I asked. "I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of being on the menu. It can have the Element for now. At least until we go defeat it."

"We? You want my help this time?"

"Of course. You think I'd leave you out?"

"You're taking this well Manic, considering it just stole the Element," Ezlo told me severely.

"Why get bothered by it? It was fairly obvious it was going to happen, and there wasn't really anything we could do about it. C'mon now, lets go play with it."


	33. A Twist in the Tail

Red and I, both wary of the Octorok waiting for us, headed through the hole it had left and out into the shallow water beyond. Not all the ice had defrosted here, a large sheet of ice just beneath the surface of Lake Hylia giving us a large arena free from any further water. The Octorok appeared to have stopped, waiting at the far side of this massive area, though the slight currents in the shallow water told us it had been moving recently.

As yet no one has figured out a way to move silently in shallow water, so naturally as soon as we splashed into it, it heard (with no ears – that's Hylian monsters for you) and turned to face us, the normally tiny black eyes now seeming much larger, orienting on each of us in turn. After only a moment regarding us it gave a squeal and charged for us, sending the water sloshing around and away. Red darted to one side while I headed to the other, avoiding the Octorok's charge.

I kept watch on it as I got clear, trying to resist the urge to make remarks about being wet yet again, and this time without flippers, but noticing that this Octorok as a result of its time frozen had plants growing over it. Maybe something I could use? I also noticed with some dismay however that the great hole where it had been frozen was now a solid wall of rubble thanks to it. The only way out now was to defeat it.

Before it had recovered from the stunning blow that impact must have given it, I started throwing fire from the Fire Rod at it, trying to set light to any of the plants. The first shot, to my dismay, missed and caught the Octorok itself, which responded with another squeal and rounded on me.

Red meanwhile had managed to get around the Octorok to rejoin me, quickly filching the Ice Rod from me with some idea that had occurred to him, but not yet me. Since he was me, it was likely to be a good idea.

We both had to split up again though as the Octorok now started spitting rocks, not normally an issue but at Minish size these were massive boulders that'd do far more than take just your head off! Nimble as I am, I had to look for the sign it was about to stop and spit to get me moving, otherwise I'd be easily caught, and even then as the rock shattered I was still sprayed with stinging rubble from it.

Then, oddly enough, it seemed to stop moving. It took me a moment to realize why it seemed to be trying to move, but unable to – Red had frozen the water around each of its feet, and I saw him at work on the last foot, splashing the water up and freezing it in order to get a better hold on it. The ice around one foot was already audibly cracking.

I took the opportunity and quickly got around behind the temporarily immobilised beast, getting Red to give me a hand up high enough to properly aim for the plants and set the lot of them alight, blazing over the Octorok. It definitely didn't like that, squealing and squirming, trying to avoid fire and get free of ice.

Its renewed efforts tore it free from the ice with an even louder crack and crash. Not unaware of what had been going on, it once again turned to round on the both of us. Red quickly exchanged the two rods and ran ahead, the Octorok either colour-blind or just enraged and after any target following him instead.

Now it was my turn to take the defensive side of it, letting him keep its attention while I stole his idea. I had to splash the water up several times around each of its stubby legs to get a proper coverage, and also make sure I wasn't so close that the rod's effect wouldn't freeze me into the ice either.

It was definitely more aware of what was going on this time, but now the flames on its back had died down a bit it wasn't struggling so much to free itself. I could still hear the sounds of rocks being spat out, meaning its attention was still divided.

I worked quickly, getting the other back leg encased in ice, then moving on to the first front leg. The Octorok, apparently in an attempt to inconvenience Red, had changed tactics now and started sucking in. Red had countered this by the simple act of jamming his sword into a slightly softer patch of ground and keeping hold of it. As long as the Octorok couldn't move and he held on, there was nothing going to happen.

It also helped me, causing waves in the water that allowed me to freeze the front leg sooner than expected, then dart underneath its snout to follow suit for the last leg. As soon as it stopped trying to suck him in Red was away and behind, already loosing fire at the remaining plants to set them alight. Once I was done I joined him, giving him a leg up so he could reach those on its back.

"Not gonna be enough," he told me quickly even while he was flinging fire at the now Octorok. "Either of you got any ideas?"

"Use both the rods again," Ezlo commanded. "Ice then Fire, at the same spots – the sudden changes in temperature will do even more damage to it!"

Red quickly finished lighting the last vines and leaves on fire then with a coordination that no other could have matched we worked in tandem, alternating Ice and Fire, frost forming on the body of the Octorok only to be melted and superheated into searing steam.

Finally after our combined attack had been withstood for several long minutes, continuing to evade it when it was free again, it gave up and sank down, the eyes now glassy and unfocused. Then it exploded, shattering the icy ceiling above and letting the water rush in. Red quickly vanished back into my sword, making me pick up his memories again while the water triggered the flippers, changing my form.

I swam against the rushing current, trying to aim for a single glinting light in the centre of the great torrent but unable to make progress for it. It was definitely the Water Element, not being buffeted around by the flows.

Then, oddly, it _did_ move, slowly, grudgingly at first, heading for me. I couldn't see why, but I certainly wasn't complaining. It wasn't hard to catch it, and once I did the currents seemed to stop having an effect on me, as if the Element itself was seeing me safely through and out to the surface. I was still Minish-sized, just outside of the Temple. Fortunately it wasn't hard to drop back down through the original portal, then have Ezlo work his magic again to bring us back – and face to face with Vaati, leaning on a nearby rock wall, and apparently also on insubstantial air.

"You seemed to be having a little trouble," he said, as if continuing a conversation that had only just been interrupted. "I thought you could use a hand.

"You?" I asked, incredulously. "You _helped_ me?"

"Just because we have different goals, doesn't mean I can't do you a favour," he shrugged. "If I hadn't made it move, you'd have had to wait for that place to fill up, and that would have taken ages."

"I'm patient, Vaati," I told him. "I don't need your help."

"Of course not. Have you found where the Wind Element is yet?" he asked with an arch look.

"Naturally," I lied. "I'll be heading there just as soon as I stop by and add this Element to my sword."

Vaati frowned, as if bothered by this, then suddenly asked, "Where's the light force, Manic?"

"I dunno," I replied. "Could be anywhere."

"You're not even going to help me out in return?"

"For what? The Element? Like I said, I'm patient, I'd have waited for it."

"Hmph. Have it your way then Hero. Just don't expect me to do anything for you again. And watch out for that dark copy of you," he added with a sly look. "I hear he's been looking for you."

"Let him," I shrugged. "Anything else you wanted to bother me with?" Vaati didn't reply, starting to vanish already, so I added, "Always nice talking at you, Vaati!"

"I don't know who's worse," Ezlo remarked afterwards. "You or him. Do you really know where the Wind Element is thought?"

"No," I admitted. "But did ya see his look when he thought we did? If I know him well enough, he'll either go back and try to find out for himself, or hang back and watch us to try and figure it out. And if I do it right, I think I can trick him into thinking we've got it before we actually do. I just need someplace to make him think we've got it from."

"The only place we haven't been is the graveyard just west of the castle," Ezlo said. "That in inside Veil Falls, but no one's ever found the way into there."

"The graveyard it is then – after we add this to the sword and get a third me to irritate you with."

"Please, stop reminding me," he said in a pained tone.

* * *

On the way to the Castle I stopped by the stonemason's workshop to check in and see what progress had been made. Knowing the importance of what he was doing he spoke in carefully worded terms to assure me that he'd already done what I'd asked of him and even made the delivery of the false Zelda statue. He also gave me a message from King Daltus that he'd had the real thing concealed somewhere other than the workshop, and commissioned a second copy which would remain here – just in case Vaati thought to look. The wily King had taken my already devious little scheme and added an even more devious streak to it.

With that little assurance in hand and the knowledge that my little plan was well in effect, I headed up to the castle. Guards were still much in evidence here, but I paid them little attention – after all, they knew me and what I was doing, surely there wouldn't be a problem?

The two guarding the main entrance however were adamant.

"You cannot pass – by order of the King, none may enter the castle!" one told me. The other tapped his mailed boot with the tip of his spear and winked. Something was afoot here.

"C'mon," I pretended to plead. "I just need one thing, that's all!"

"The King's orders are absolute," the second guard told me firmly.

"You heard what happened to the town guards what tried to stop me, didn't you?" Both nodded. "I'll do it again, you know," I threatened.

"But we are wise to your ways," the first said.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!"

I darted forward with deliberately less agility than usual. The guards both caught me struggling between them, something I used as a cover to reach into the guard's boot and retrieve a small roll of parchment, quickly stowed inside my tunic.

"You were saying?" the guard asked pleasantly, lightly pushing me back.

"I'll do it next time," I promised, feigning a retreat and then taking shelter in an ornamental hedge, shielding the parchment from view by anyone except me.

"Well?" Ezlo asked.

"So you caught on then," I said.

"It wasn't very subtle."

"Actually, it was very well done," I disagreed. "Anyone who didn't already know would see what the guards and I wanted them to see – me make an attempt to get past them, like I did earlier. They wouldn't expect there to be a hidden message."

"So what does it say?" he asked impatiently.

"It's from Daltus. He's stepped up the guard in case Vaati makes an attempt to reach him, and he's asked the Goddesses to protect them from his power. He's also told me of a secret way into the castle we can use, and to head to the garden once inside because there'll be someone there with another message for us."

"How convenient, and helpful of him."

"Don't thank him yet – you'll have to put up with my habits to sneak past the guards in the gardens to reach this hidden entrance. He's told them not to let anyone in, not even me. They all know the truth like those two, but they can't show it."

Ezlo thought on it for a few moments then said, "Well, it's for a good reason. I'm sure I can forgive you – this time."


End file.
